Nicolas Pepe has shown glimpses of his undoubted qualities as a player for Arsenal.
The Ivorian was signed by the Gunners last summer after he had a fine 2018/2019 season with Lille in the French league.
He was signed to bring more goals, creativity and threat to the Arsenal attack as soon as he joined the team.
The winger had an inconsistent first season at the club and this campaign offers him the chance to finally show what he can do.
While Pepe has been inconsistent, he has shown what he can do in flashes and he impressed yet again in Arsenal’s Europa League game against Molde on Thursday.
He was in fine form in that game and willingly ran at the hosts’ defenders, Ray Parlour thinks that he needs to do that more in the Premier League.
The former Arsenal star says Pepe is better off when he runs at defenders, but the winger very rarely does that when he plays in the Premier League.
‘He has shown it in patches,’ Parlour told talkSPORT via Metro Sports.
‘He was much better [against Molde], I must admit. He’s better when he runs at players, commits players.
‘He takes the easy option usually in the Premier League. He needs to run at full-backs, make them commit.
‘He’s good when he gets on his left foot, he has a good strike on him and you can see him taking corners. The reason he plays on the right is so he can cut inside and shoot with his left foot.
‘We always had left wingers who were right-footed, we had Pires, we had Overmars who would cut in and get 20 goals a season.
‘It’s alright doing it against Molde, against the smaller sides, you have to do it against the big sides. He has to make that impact against the Leeds Uniteds and the teams in the Premier League.
‘He has shown glimpses he can do it in the Premier League, but he hasn’t done it on a regular basis.
‘Again, when you go back to consistency, you have to do it week in, week out. You need to be a seven or eight out of 10 week in, week out and that’s where you are going to be a real success at your club.’
