Arsenal: Complete player rankings for the 2018/19 season

4. Laurent Koscielny

As a disclaimer, No. 4, 3, and 2 were all tied on the ratings, so by process of deferral, this is the ranking that we came up with, but just know that these three guys were incredibly tight in the rankings, and I’ll be praiseworthy of all of them.

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I don’t know what would have happened to Arsenal this year had it not been for Laurent Koscielny. Really, I don’t. He saved us. If he hadn’t found his top form, we’d have been left with Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi all year.

I don’t think I need to tell you about the stark contrast between a Sokratis/Mustafi backline and a Koscielny/Sokratis back line. But it’s pretty… stark.

Koscielny was the defender that we needed all over again. After such a rough year last season and the lengthy injury to boot, there weren’t a lot of expectations from the Frenchman, but he rose to the occasion in the biggest way possible and did truly special.

Yes, he actually made this defense function, which I didn’t think was possible. I pretty much knew it wasn’t possible. Yet Koscielny did it.

Andy (4), Josh (2)

By process of elimination, No. 2 and No. 1 are obvious.