Why Laurent Koscielny Is the Unsung Hero for Arsenal so Far in 2014/15 Season

Arsenal began their title challenge this season on a paper-thin foundation.

After selling Thomas Vermaelen over the summer, it was patently obvious that Arsene Wenger needed to bring in another center back to back up Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker.

The latter two were Arsenal's bedrock last season, playing almost every game and letting in very few goals—bar the three meltdowns at Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

For years, Arsenal fans agonized over their team's defense. Season after season of Sebastien Squillaci, Mikael Silvestre, William Gallas and the like made Gooners queasy despite their array of attacking options.

Softness at the back was the Achilles' heel of almost every Arsenal side since they started finishing third and fourth in 2005/06. Not so last season. In addition to the three aforementioned back-breaking games, Arsenal were undone by a collective failure to score against elite teams and some weak opposition.

The team's reliance on three center backs, never mind two, was difficult to justify. Wenger simply got incredibly lucky that a team perennially beset by injuries did not succumb to maladies in defense.

Mertesacker played more games than any other Arsenal player last season, with Koscielny not far behind. But Arsenal somehow decided that it's alright to have two central defenders on the team for an entire season.

There is literally no way to justify this decision, which has had severe collateral effects, notably on Koscielny.

Arsenal have been lucky so far that their two center backs have held up and can usually play together. It was not so at the beginning of the season, when Mertesacker was out due to his participation in the World Cup and Koscielny complained of a bad ankle. But the two are together now.

It appears, however, that at least Koscielny might be overplayed to a degree that is compromising his health.

Widespread reports indicate that the Frenchman is suffering from acute tendonitis in both Achilles tendons. That is a stress injury, and it is not hard for anyone who has ever run to figure out why he has it: He overworked himself and continued pushing when he should have stopped.

But he could not stop, of course, because Arsenal do not have anyone to replace him beyond Calum Chambers. And even he cannot fill Koscielny's boots anymore because Mathieu Debuchy will be out for the next few months with an ankle injury.

Tendonitis can only be healed by rest—several weeks of it. Arsenal's medical team, led by Shad Forsythe, will no doubt be doing all they can to heal Koscielny's tendons in the minimal amount of time, but there is only a certain amount they can do.

At least Koscielny has had the benefit of two weeks of rest during the international break. The report indicates that Arsenal's medics remain hopeful that he'll be fit for Arsenal's next game against Hull City.

He really should be allowed to fully recuperate, but he will almost certainly not be able to (who can one even think of to replace him?). Koscielny's soldiering on at the highest level is exactly what makes him Arsenal's hero this season.

Arsenal's defense is perhaps not as solid as it was last year, but then the entire team has not been as clinical as it was a season ago. There are issues, but Koscielny has without a doubt been the better of the Gunners' two center backs this year.

He still marauds around Arsenal's half, tracking the opposition's most dangerous player and throwing himself around trying to intercept attacks as they begin. Arsenal would be infinitely worse without him.

That compounds the numerical problem Wenger already has. That is obviously not Koscielny's fault, though, and he should be praised for performing so well under circumstances in which he should never find himself.

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