Charlie Austin names ‘crazy’ Arsenal player as one of his easiest opponents

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Arsenal have continued where they left off from last season in terms of their defensive strength.

Mikel Arteta’s side have conceded just once in their opening three League games and it took a stunning free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai to beat David Raya.

The partnership of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes has once again earned plaudits and Arsenal fans were impressed with Cristhian Mosquera after the young defender replaced the injured Saliba at Anfield.

However, the Gunners have not always been watertight defensively and former Premier League striker Charlie Austin has named an Arsenal defender as one of the easier opponents he faced in his career.

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Charlie Austin reveals his enjoyment at playing against Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny

Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘Under the Cosh’ podcast, Austin has revealed that he used to enjoy playing against former Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny.

The former Southampton and QPR striker enjoyed a decent record against the Gunners, scoring five goals in seven games against teams managed by Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery.

When asked: “What individual players, who did you not mind playing against? Who you’d think is a top, but you thought I’ve got your number here?” Austin named the French international.

Austin stated: “Koscielny. Whenever I played against him, I just thought, I’ve got a chance here.”

Alex Iwobi described Koscielny’s intelligence as ‘crazy’ on the pitch, but Austin used to fancy his chances when up against the Gunners centre back.

Laurent Koscielny angered Arsenal fans with his transfer exit

Koscielny played over 350 games for the Gunners and captained the side during his spell in North London, also winning three FA Cup winner’s medals.

However, the defender left fans angry following his departure in the summer of 2019 to Bordeaux by removing his Arsenal shirt in favour of his new club in the announcement video.

As per the Mirror, it was a move labelled ‘disrespectful’ by some supporters but Koscielny did not mean to cause offence.

Speaking to GFFN, Koscielny stated: “I had nine incredible years there, lots of memories with this club. I know that my announcement video at Bordeaux caused a bit of a stir. I want to apologise to the fans for that – I didn’t expect it to affect them in the way that it did.”

Many will look back on Koscielny’s time at Arsenal in a positive light, especially the partnership he formed with Per Mertesacker.

However, he was part of an Arsenal side that will always look back with regret that they didn’t manage to win a Premier League title with the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in their ranks.