Pepe finally arrives as Arsenal come from behind to beat Vitoria in the Europa League.
Arsenal record signing Nicolas Pepe finally came of age as an Arsenal player this evening. The 24-year old came on as a sub for Alexandre Lacazette in the 75th minute and it did not take him long to leave his mark.
Trailing 2-1, the young winger stepped up in the 79th minute to convert a beautiful 25-yard free-kick. His confidence was clearly lifted and he began to run the Vitoria defence ragged.
The young winger is definitely a player that feeds off confidence and the longer the game went on the better he got.
Up to that point, it had to be said that the visitors deserved their lead. They were better organised, more determined and played with better fluidity and cohesion.
For their part Arsenal were their standard lacklustre selves, it seemed to me that they thought that all they needed to do was turn up to collect the three points. How wrong they were.
Vitoria played expansive football, were efficient on the counter-attack and to their credit, played for the win.
However, this was the Nicolas Pepe show and he was determined to win the game for his new club.
Deep into injury time Arsenal got another free-kick and you just knew what was coming. Up stepped the Ivory Coast international to convert his second free-kick and win the game.
We were told to be patient with Pepe and that patience has been rewarded. Tonight we got to see the hype justified.
What a player and what a night for Nicolas Pepe.