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Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny made his first outing in red since May – when he suffered a nasty Achilles injury that saw him miss France’s World Cup winning campaign of the summer – on Monday night as he played 45 minutes for the Under 23s.
The former Lorient man was a mainstay in the Gunners line-up under Arsene Wenger, became club captain under Unai Emery in the summer, despite his injury, and has made 324 appearances for the club in all competitions – judging by the response on Twitter, the Emirates faithful cannot wait for the 33-year-old to make his 325th.
Emery has worked hard to restore a defensive security that was absent from the red and white side of north London as Wenger’s time at the helm came to a close, bringing in steel and experience at the back with the signings of Sokratis and Stephan Lichtsteiner but, so far, Rob Holding has surprisingly been the standout performer.
Whether there is still a place in the starting XI for the ageing Koscielny remains to be seen but, regardless, fans were overjoyed to see their number 6 back in action.
Playmaker FC’s Theo Ogden was at the Emirates to witness Arsenal’s qualification for the Europa League last 32. Check out his match diary in the video below…
