Arsenal Vs Huddersfield Town: Laurent Koscielny back for good

Arsenal hung on to beat Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon. At the heart of the victory was Laurent Koscielny. The centre-back is back for good.

I’ll be honest. I was very worried when Laurent Koscielny first returned to the Arsenal team and looked far from his sharpest. I knew he was never going to step in and immediately be the old Laurent Koscielny from a ruptured Achilles and seven months on the sidelines. But at the same time, I did worry that he might never recover his best form.

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We have seen plenty of players, especially as they age, lose whatever they had prior to their injury after a long-term absence. Just as Jack Wilshere. Or Fernando Torres. Or Owen Hargreaves. All have suffered from major injuries and never fully recovered. I feared the same may happen for Koscielny.

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And after a few weeks back in the first-team fold, it did look as though he might struggle to rediscover his very best. He looked that step slower, that little bit more hesitant in challenges, that tad looser in his marking. But as he has played with increasing regularity and grown into a new team under a new manager with new teammates alongside him, behind him and in front of him, the old Koscielny has again reappeared.

It culminated on Saturday, a phenomenal performance in a 2-1 victory over Huddersfield Town. The fact that Arsenal needed him to be so brilliant is concerning in and of itself, but Koscielny was more than up to the task. This was the Koscielny of old.

Koscielny played at the base of a 3-4-3 that surrendered control of the midfield and allowed Huddersfield to control the middle of the park. He was always going to have to deal with a barrage of Terriers’ attacks. It is the nature of the system — think Chelsea under Antonio Conte two years ago.

Unai Emery wanted his team to play on the counter-attack. But to do that, you have to have a stifling defence that can handle growing pressure. Koscielny almost singlehandedly provided that sound, secure presence. It must be said, he wasn’t helped much by those around him, especially to his right. But every attack that Huddersfield threw at Arsenal, Koscielny was seemingly there to reply with a door-shutting block, header, tackle or clearance.

He marshalled the central areas superbly, shellacked the Huddersfield attack, constricted them to long-range strikes or hopeful crosses, which he then duly dealt with, all the while maintaining the highest pass completion rate of any Arsenal player. This was the old Laurent Koscielny turning up for work.

What this means for the future, I do not know. Can, at 33, he be relied upon long-term? I doubt it. But for now, he might well be the best defender the Gunners have. He proved it here.