Behind the Numbers: Laurent Koscielny

Our statistician Josh James reflects on Laurent Koscielny's 2011/12 stats after the French defender finished fourth in our Player of the Season poll.

Ultimately it was Laurent Koscielny's goal that sealed Arsenal's place in next season's Champions League, but it was mainly for his performances at the other end of the pitch that earned him fourth place in our Player of the Season poll.

During his second season at the Club Koscielny played 42 games (77.8 per cent of the total) - more than any other defender at Arsenal.

He appeared in all four competitions (33 games in the League, six in the Champions League, two in the FA Cup and once in the League Cup). His overall playing record was W25, D7, L10 for a win percentage of 59.5.

In 29 of the games Koscielny played, Arsenal conceded no more than one goal, including 15 clean sheets.

Arsenal conceded 53 goals from the 42 matches Koscielny started, however the Frenchman was withdrawn early in four of those games, during which time five of the 53 goals were conceded.

Koscielny was on the pitch for a total of 3,630 minutes (60 and a half hours), and Arsenal conceded once every 75.63 minutes on average with him in the side. This compares favourably to once every 64.74 minutes without him in the team.

Koscielny started three of his 42 games at right back, the other 39 at centre half. He had four different central defensive partners throughout the campaign, most common of which was Per Mertesacker. That duo was deployed 20 times in the season, conceding an average of 1.2 goals per game.

However that partnership was shaded by the Vermaelen/Koscielny axis. Those two started 16 games together (though Koscielny was withdrawn early on two occasions). Looking purely at goals conceded while Koscielny was on the pitch, the two conceded just 14 goals together, at 0.88 per match.

Just one goal was conceded when Laurent Koscielny started at right back.

* Goals conceded while Koscielny was on pitch

Behind The Numbers

Koscielny also proved himself a valuable attacking threat at times.

His second-half goal against West Brom on May 13 clinched the three points needed to confirm a third-place finish, and added to his strikes earlier in the season against Fulham and AC Milan.

All three of his goals put Arsenal ahead in the respective matches. In fact that was the case for each of his three goals last season too, including the goal in the Carling Cup semi-final with Ipswich which gave Arsenal the lead for the first time over the two legs.

Koscielny contributed two assists as well, including winning the penalty against Aston Villa in the FA Cup which was converted by Robin van Persie to give Arsenal a 3-2 comeback win.

Behind The Numbers

Stats correct as at May 29, 2012. Josh James also provides the stats for the Arsenal Analysis pages of the matchday programme. To subscribe, or buy online, click here.