Sokratis is delighted for Arsenal teammate Shkodran Mustafi over his current form.

Thursday's battling 1-0 Europa League win at Olympiakos means the Gunners are unbeaten in their last nine games under manager Mikel Arteta.

The Spaniard told his stars to roll their sleeves up and learn to enjoy the art of defending.

That is a message which has gone down particularly well with centre-half Sokratis.

And the Greek, 31, explained: “When all the players defend, the defence is better.

“It's not down to four or five of us — it's down to the whole team and now we do that a lot better.

“We're not allowing opponents to have a lot of shots like we were earlier in the season and much of this is down to the work of the manager.

“From his first day he spoke to us about what we had to do better.

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“There is still a lot of room for improvement but every week we look to take another step forward.

“We have all had our difficult moments this season. Mustafi has made mistakes — but so have I and David Luiz.

“Mustafi is a good player but needed help through a difficult time."