Laurent Koscielny is close to handing Arsenal a defensive boost after missing the first three months of the 2018-19 campaign.

The former France international has been sidelined with an Achilles rupture that required surgery since May, the central defender missing his country’s World Cup triumph at Russia 2018 as a result.

Unai Emery has slowly reintegrated the 33-year-old, who last featured for the Gunners in a Europa League clash with Atletico Madrid on May 3, into training and the Spaniard says Koscielny is almost ready to be considered for selection.

“He feels better in each training [session],” Emery told a media conference ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Sporting CP.

Emery said in October that he would not rush the defender back into action, adding that the club will be “calm” with the Frencman as he returns to full fitness.

“We need [to wait] more than a month,” Emery said at the time.

Koscielny’s improvement does not help Emery for the upcoming European clash, though, with fellow defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos, Nacho Monreal and Sokratis Papastathopoulos also unlikely to feature on Thursday.

Arsenal lead Group E after three wins out of three, including a 1-0 win over Sporting last time out.

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