Laurent Koscielny says that playing with three centre-halves and two wing backs makes Arsenal a stronger outfit defensively.

Arsene Wenger made the change towards the end of last season, and has stuck with it, although he has switched to a back four during certain games.

It’s often referred to as a ‘three at the back’ system, and while the French international describes it in that way, he also says they’re playing with five defenders, thus making the team more solid from a defensive point of view.

“It’s very different as a new system for us,” he said. “It worked very well during pre-season because we had time to prepare for it, to know what we want to do on the pitch together for the offensive and defensive jobs.

“We know the system well and when we have possession we have a lot of players forward because we are very stretched in the back three and we have a lot of solutions going forward.

“Defensively everyone does their job and we are more aligned with five players. We are stronger.”

Some point to the fact Arsenal have conceded more goals and goal-scoring opportunities with the back three, but Koscielny insists the team as a whole must be more willing to do what it takes to improve that record.

“We conceded some goals in two or three games but it’s not just about the back three,” he continued.

“It was more general in terms of the defensive job of the team. So that’s why when you have your striker who when they lose the ball they do the first run to pressure our opponent, after for the players who are behind it’s much easier to have the ball and to play forward again.”

“After the defeat at Liverpool, we changed a lot of things and we could see that against Bournemouth and at Chelsea, too.

“We need to keep this for the other games we will have because, if we keep the same mentality, we can have some good results.”

Let’s hope it works well tonight against West Brom.