Who has been Arsenal’s Player of the Year?

Laurent Koscielny

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Koscielny won’t make many headlines, but as a defender, you’d prefer it that way. If you’re not making headlines it means you’re not doing anything crazy. Laurent Koscielny’s success went hand-in-hand with Arsenal’s success this season. When Arsenal were in their first 17 games, scrounging only 27 points, Koscielny was in and out with calf and achilles injuries, missing 14 of those 17 games (via SkySports).

Coincidence? No way.

In Arsenal’s last 15 matches, all with Laurent Koscielny starting, the Gunners have maintained 7 clean sheets and only surrendered 10 goals. SkySports also provided this telling graphic as to how important the defender really is to Arsenal’s success:

Another way to tell just how good a guy is is to put him up against some of the best in the industry. After all, your stats can show one thing, but until you put them up against other people’s stats, they’re pretty worthless. Take a look (stats on a per 90 minute basis via Squawka.com).

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Well, that checks out as well. Laurent Koscielny is invaluable to Arsenal.

Next: Aaron Ramsey