Koscielny unfazed by Arsenal’s travel sickness

Arsenal have taken just two points from the last 15 available away from home, but Laurent Koscielny is refusing to read too much into that run.The Gunners were struck down by a bout of travel sickness again on Saturday when suffering a 1-0 derby defeat to London rivals West Ham.Unai Emery’s side toiled for long periods during a trip to the East End, with a lack of creativity in the absence of Mesut Ozil costing them dear. Article continues below Editors’ Picks ‘There is no creativity’ – Can Solskjaer get Man Utd scoring freely again? ‘Everyone legged it on to the pitch!’ – How Foden went from Man City superfan to future superstar Emery out of jail – for now – as brilliant Pepe papers over Arsenal’s cracks What is Manchester United’s ownership situation and how would Kevin Glazer’s sale of shares affect the club? Struggles on the road are preventing Arsenal from forcing their way into the Premier League’s top four, but club captain Koscielny insists there is no cause for concern.The Frenchman told reporters after coming unstuck against the Hammers: “No [it is not becoming an issue], we don’t think about this.“We take it game after game, today we worked well during the week to prepare and we had the ambition to get the three points.“But in football you don’t know, you have your opponent and I think they played well with quality. We need to keep our confidence and continue to work together and the results will come.”2 – Arsenal have taken just two points from their last five away Premier League games (W0 D2 L3) – they won 13 points in the five away games prior to this run (W4 D1 L0). Reverted. #WHUARS pic.twitter.com/jd25IzEV8y— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 12, 2019Another defeat on the road has prevented Arsenal from closing on the Champions League spots, but Koscielny remains upbeat in that particular pursuit.He added: “We came here to win because for us the three points was very important, and next week as well to play against Chelsea.“We tried to play, we did well in the first half but didn’t have a lot of chances in the final third. We need to keep calmer in the final third and find the final ball, but in the second half we didn’t start well and conceded early.“After that we tried to push for the rest of the game, we had some chances and we didn’t score so it is difficult to come back with no points but we need to continue to fight to make the top four.”Arsenal mustered 11 attempts on goal against West Ham, but few of their chances were clear cut and only two efforts forced Lukasz Fabianski into action.Koscielny said of the lacking of cutting edge: “Strikers sometimes have just one opportunity and they [are expected to] score, but sometimes you do it and sometimes it is more difficult.“We are all together, it is not down [to] one or two players, we are a group and we need to stay together and to push more for the next game.”Things are not about to get any easier for Arsenal, with a visit from Chelsea next on the agenda.They are then due to face Manchester United in the fourth round of the FA Cup before tackling Cardiff on home soil and heading back out on the road to Manchester City. Check out Goal’s Premier League 2019-20 fantasy football podcast for game tips, debate and rivalries.