Yet another clean sheet for Arsenal away to Stoke City kept up our very impressive defensive record in the Premier League this season and extended the record breaking figures of our new number one. Quite rightly a lot of the credit for this is going to Petr Cech, not just for his shot stopping ability but for his calmness and presence and the confidence that gives to the Arsenal defence.
Another huge part of that defensive strength and solidity, however, comes from the player that many pundits and football experts have hailed as the best centre back in England at the minute, our France international star Laurent Koscielny.
The boss is in the form of his life and at 30-years old he has plenty of time at the top for a defender. But there have been a number of Arsenal transfer rumours linking the Frenchman with a move to some of the biggest clubs around Europe and that would be a massive blow to Arsenal.
Arsenal fans should be relieved and delighted, then, that although Koscielny himself has confirmed this transfer interest in him, Metro has reported, he also went on to reveal that he has no intention of leaving anytime in the foreseeable future.
The Arsenal star said, “For the moment, I have no reason to go and look elsewhere.
“There were teams interested in me but I always asked myself if it was worth taking the risk.
“I’ve seen a good few players leave for a bigger club and find themselves on the substitutes’ bench.
“At the start of my career I was often on the bench. I hated it. I said to myself — ‘never again’.
“I have everything I need here to blossom.”
The way Koscielny has developed into one of the best defenders around the only thing that will see him out of the Arsenal team are fitness concerns so hopefully he will be our defensive lynchpin for many years to come.