Arsenal FC: Wenger Highlights The Importance Of Having Koscielny At The Back

Arsneal manager Arsene Wenger highlighted the importance of having Laurent Koscielny anchoring from the back, explaining that experience and quality are among the most important aspects in a centre-back.

The 29-year-old French international has missed a significant number of games in the ongoing campaign due to ankle and calf problems, but was right on cue in his return game against West Ham United.

"His individual quality is huge, he is a top-class defender," the manager said.

Koscielny has formed a great partnership with towering German Per Mertesacker, recording 31 consecutive unbeaten matches alongside each other in the past.

"On top of that he has a lot of experience together with Per Mertesacker and you could feel that in the game against West Ham," he added.

"They understand each other well, they understand each other's movements and they cover each other very well."

"You judge a defence more as a back four. We want to show have big targets in front of us now and that our back four can deal with the problems we have."

"In some games we were a bit exposed because we had a lack of experience."

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