Laurent Koscienly fires warning to Arsenal's forward

We face a tricky balancing act on Thursday evening when we face BATE Borisov in the second leg of our Europa League last-32 clash.

Trailing 1-0 from the first game out in Belarus, Laurent Koscielny has fired warning to his teammates and insists the attackers have to find a way to keep tight at the back as well as offering enough attacking threat.

Speaking to the media ahead of the crucial 2nd leg clash at the Emirates Stadium, the Arsenal captain said:

“In the game against BATE we knew we had the possession, after we need to be more efficient. If we scored the first opportunity against them I think the game is totally different.

“They just waited for a free kick or corner, and in football you can miss a duel and concede a goal. “

“It is important that all the players on the pitch do their defensive job well. It starts with our strikers when we want to press very high, it makes it easier for our defenders to win back the ball. It is a collective job and we need to be more consistent in this and work harder.”

“We need to find a good balance between attacking and defending. I think they will play with a deep block and wait to play on the counter-attack. “

“We need to be focused on our tradition when we lose the ball, to try to win back the ball as soon as possible.”

“We don’t want to give them chances to have a free-kick or corner. Afterwards, it’s about us being efficient in their box to score some goals.”

“We don’t know if we will score early in the game or later, but we need to continue to play with calmness and focus. We can have some chances like we had in the first leg, but we need to be more efficient in both boxes.”