Arsenal defender Sokratis is delighted to have David Luiz at the Emirates after his summer move and wants to form a strong defensive partnership with the Brazilian.

Luiz joined the Gunners from Chelsea in an £8m deal on transfer deadline day and made his debut alongside Sokratis in Saturday's 2-1 win over Burnley at the Emirates.

The Greek is delighted to have the 32-year-old in north London, saying: "I have known him for a lot of years.

"He also speaks some Greek and is a very good guy. I am happy also that we took a player like him with experience.

"When I was in Dortmund I played with Hummels, who has the same style as David. It was also a very good partnership and it is very good [now with David Luiz].

"It was his first game, it is important that we won and we can go from here.

"When [David] came we spoke a lot that we will have moments when we struggle, but we have to struggle all together.

"Of course he is a player that has experience because he played for big teams. We need character and players like him."

Sokratis was quick to point out that he and Luiz may not always play together, but that the team is the most important thing regardless of who starts at the back.

"Yes, it is good [to build a partnership]. But we have also Rob Holding, [Calum] Chambers who are good players and Dinos [Mavropanos], who is coming back now," he said.

"We have to be ready for every game. It is a lot of games and we need all the players.

"The important thing is to win as a team.

"In games somebody has to stay outside and somebody has to play, but the important thing is the team."

Sokratis also wants Arsenal to 'struggle together' and defend as a team, with the backline coming in for a lot of criticism last season.

"The defence starts first from Lacazette and Aubameyang," he said.

"For this I said that we have to struggle all together.

"If we are there all together and we fight all together it will be much better.

"In the end maybe we will lose, maybe we will win, but the image of the team will be better."