Koscielny on the lessons of 2013/14

Laurent Koscielny is confident that Arsenal have made significant strides forward this season.

The France international was a key member of the side as they finished fourth in the Premier League and won the FA Cup.

While the 28-year-old regrets the fact the Gunners could not maintain their title bid in February and March, he remains satisfied with the campaign as a whole.

“It’s been a good season,” Koscielny told Arsenal Player. “We started well in the first six months, and after that we had two months when we had some difficult results and conceded a lot of goals.

“During those first six months we played well and sometimes not so well, but we were very strong. At the back every player did their jobs defensively and we conceded less goals, which was very important for us.

“We stayed a long time in first place, but the season is very long and we knew would have some troughs. We needed to play differently and stay strong, and we didn’t.

“We need to learn from this and I think next season will be different. When we make mistakes we learn from them and we will not do the same next time.”

Koscielny was one of a number of players to sustain an injury at a critical point in the season, and he believes this had a major impact on Arsenal’s title challenge.

“We need to have all our players fit and when you lose Aaron after Christmas, Theo at the beginning of January, Wilshere after the England game, then Mesut and me, it makes it difficult,” he said.

“When you have a lot of injuries, to players who are very important to the team, it is difficult to win something. We need to be together like a unit, like the last few months we played and then we can see if we can do something [next year].”