Laurent Koscielny is looking forward to developing his partnership with Per Mertesacker this season, and says that avoiding big injuries will be crucial in Arsenal's bid to win the Premier League title.
The French defender is about to kick off his sixth season with the club, and his fifth alongside Mertesacker, with whom he has formed a solid partnership.
"We have played together for four years now, and I think it works well," said Koscielny.
"Per is good in the air and when he has the ball in front of him, I can recover behind him, and he has space. We have a defence that plays high on the pitch so we need a team where everyone does the defensive job, and I think we did that well last year, and we will do it again this season."
"We have kept our mentality the same, and every year the philosophy stays the same, it's the philosophy of Wenger"
Arsenal conceded just seven goals in the final 12 league games of last season, and Koscielny is confident a fully-fit Gunners squad can continue that form into the new campaign.
"The last four months of the season were very good, and we need to keep that going," he said.
"Last year we had a good team, but we had a lot of injuries which stopped us. When you have Debuchy, Giroud, Ozil, Wilshere, Walcott all injured for a few months, it makes it difficult to have your best team, and to fight with Chelsea, who didn't have any big injuries. I hope we will not have a lot of injuries this season."
The 29-year-old added that he hopes his own experience and the growing togetherness of the squad will also prove decisive.
"I've been here six years now, and played more than 200 games, so I have more experience, I know my team-mates, I know the club and I feel good with Arsenal. When you are confident, that makes you happy and you give yourself for the team and for the club on the pitch.
"As for the team, we've changed a lot of players during my time here, but for the past two years we have added a lot of players with good quality and a good technical level.
"We have kept our mentality the same, and every year the philosophy stays the same, it's the philosophy of Wenger. We play football on the floor with movement, combinations."
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