Koscielny return to boost Arsenal?

With Arsenal currently preparing for two massive games in quick succession, their defence is once again likely to come under heavy scrutiny. The club's best defender by some distance, Thomas Vermaelen, is out of action until the new year, while Johan Djourou still isn't ready to play week in, week out for the Gunners, so the return of Laurent Koscielny earlier than expected should arguably be seen as a major boost to Arsenal's hopes.

However, the young Frenchman has failed to perform at a consistently high level since arriving at his new club, with the defender somehow managing to be sent off twice already this season for stupid challenges. The club's fans are keen, as always, to see Arsenal sign a proven high-quality defender who would be capable of competing in both the Premier League and the Champions League, so the pressure is really starting to mount on Koscielny to show that he is capable of making the grade in the tough Premier League environment.



If Koscielny does manage to up his game against Partizan Belgrade and Manchester United, and in the process help Arsenal make major steps towards winning their first piece of major silverware since the 2005 FA Cup, he may start to win over those fans who currently have very little faith in him.



However, if the controversial defender once again shows that he is extremely suspect defensively, he may well go down as one of the club's worst buys since the infamous signing of the "fox in the box", Francis Jeffers. Even though Koscielny may not have heard of Jeffers, he will certainly want to avoid being labelled as anything approaching a flop signing. To avoid this, perhaps the Frenchman should start showing he can resemble another Arsenal signing, Thomas Vermaelen, who has excelled in his short time at the club.