Koscielny hails team effort

Laurent Koscielny: French defender has highlighted work of Arsenal's attacking players

Laurent Koscielny has been keen to share credit with the whole Arsenal team after managing to shore up their defence.

The Gunners lost 4-0 at AC Milan and then 2-0 at Sunderland last month.

But after coming back from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 5-2, they have conceded just two goals in four games.

Arsenal recorded their second clean sheet in three games with a 1-0 win at Everton on Wednesday night, after which manager Arsene Wenger praised his team's defensive resilience.

Having a settled back four has helped make the Gunners harder to score against, with Wenger able to name Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs, Thomas Vermaelen and Koscielny for the last five games.

But Koscielny, Arsenal's French centre-back, stressed the whole team has contributed.

"It's not just the four defenders, it's all the team," he told the club's official website.

Effort

"Robin (van Persie) made a lot of effort to help us, so it's all the team who defend and attack, and (against Everton) we did the job very well.

"We need to carry that into the next game against Aston Villa at home."

The Gunners go into Saturday's home game against Aston Villa on the back of a five-match winning streak.

Wednesday's win saw them leapfrog Tottenham into third place. Arsenal are now a point above their derby rivals having seemingly been set for a battle to earn even a UEFA Champions League place last month.