Coquelin spent three years at the club before being spotted by renowned Arsenal scout Gilles Grimandi, while on international duty, playing in a 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round qualification match against Israel.

[11] Coquelin scored his first goal in an Arsenal shirt in a reserve match against Stoke City on 6 October 2008, shooting powerfully in from the edge of the box with his weaker left foot.

[13] On 22 September 2009, he made his first start for the first team against West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup third round, playing 58 minutes before he was replaced by Mark Randall.

[21] Sky Sports reported that Lorient manager Christian Gourcuff was keen to re-sign Coquelin as well as his Arsenal teammate Gilles Sunu on an additional year's loan.

[22] After spending pre-season at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup with France, Coquelin returned to Arsenal, and on 28 August 2011, he made his first team league debut against Manchester United.

[29] Coquelin provided his first assist of the season in the 6–1 victory over Coventry City in the League Cup; his sliding flick on for Olivier Giroud allowed his compatriot to score his first goal for the club.

[33] He does however credit his season loan there as being beneficial to his development as a player,[33] and in November 2013 scored his first goal at first-team level in a 2–1 win over Slovan Liberec in the UEFA Europa League.

[36] Having been recalled from his loan at Charlton to cover for injuries,[37] Coquelin made a late substitute appearance in the team's 4–1 league victory against Newcastle United on 13 December 2014.

[39] After this, Coquelin retained his place in the Arsenal team and performed impressively as the Gunners defeated champions Manchester City 2–0 at the Etihad Stadium on 18 January 2015.

"[42] On 1 March, during the win against Everton, Coquelin broke his nose in a collision with teammate Olivier Giroud[43] after a strong home performance as a midfield pivot to Santi Cazorla.

[citation needed] Coquelin wore a protective mask and produced a resolute performance in the heart of midfield again against Queens Park Rangers on 4 March 2015.

[48] Coquelin missed two matches in September against Leicester City and Tottenham with a minor injury, and was dropped for a League Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in October.

[57] In the semi-final against Croatia, Coquelin skipped past three challenges and slipped a pass through for Cédric Bakambu to score the winning goal and put France into the final.