Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin believes that his experience with Charlton Athletic proved to be a stepping stone in his career.
The 24-year-old, who has managed to establish himself as a regular in Arsene Wenger's team since his return from a loan spell at the Valley, insists that the experience at the Championship club was unbelievable.
The emergency loan move, which lasted for just over a month, gave the youngster the chance to play "week in and week out" which he believes was great.
As a result, the former France Under-21 international insists that he came back to his parent club stronger and never needed the chance to look back.
“Every time I got the chance to say a little word about Charlton, I’m doing it because I had a great time over there”, Coquelin told his club's official website.
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"I met great people there.
"They gave me a little taste of playing football again, week in and week out. It was great for me. I got a lot of experience and all the lads and staff were great with me. It was a terrific experience for me and I came back here much stronger.”
The former Lorient man also took time to speak about yet another Championship side and their opponents on Saturday, Hull City, insisting that the gap between clubs in the Premier League and the teams in the lower divisions has been shrinking and his team will find it tough to beat Steve Bruce's side in the FA Cup.
“I think there are more and more teams in the Championships that are trying to play football rather than long-ball football.
"I think they are getting closer to the Premier League and you can see there are a lot of teams who deserve to be in the Premier League.
“You can see it is difficult for the teams that go down for them to get back promoted. Hull City are playing really well in the Championship so it is going to be a tough one."
