Calum Chambers has tipped Nicolas Pepe to shine for Arsenal next season after his return to form towards the end of this seasons campaign.
Pepe joined Arsenal from Lille in 2019 after the Gunners couldn’t meet Crystal Palace’s asking price for Wilfried Zaha.
The Ivorian had scored a decent number of goals for Lille in France in the previous campaign and several top European teams wanted him.
His first season was underwhelming for the Gunners as he failed to consistently deliver fine performances for the club.
This campaign was expected to be better, but the 25-year-old has similarly underperformed for them.
He, however, hit top form towards the end of the campaign and scored four goals in his last two games.
Chambers was asked if he thought Pepe is now emerging and would show great form next season and he answered in the affirmative.
He said the players already knew how good Pepe is and he is happy that he is beginning to show everyone else.
Asked if Pepe can be at his best next season, Chambers replied via The Independent: “Yes.
“I think he’s on good form at the minute and he’s been playing really well and scoring good goals and his confidence is high.
“We’ve seen that all along and we’ve known the quality that he’s had and it’s just really nice to see him show everyone else what he can do.
“(His performance was) brilliant. He was covering me defensively, which is amazing.
“I think he’s improved a lot, he’s a great player and we’ve seen it from the start in the first day of training, we’ve seen his quality, and I think now he’s really starting to show everyone what he can do. We’re all delighted for him.”
Honestly for me, Pepe doesn’t give me confidence dat he will be explosive n come gud next season!!
Same as Mikel Arteta!!
Particularly with Edu around him..
For Pepe, I am not just convinced!! 4goals against Burnley and Crystal palace does not fill up d Average or pedestrian performances in d other 36 matches in d season!
Let’s just hope he can prove doubters wrong, since some of you fans here want him to stay..
Let’s hope, we re NOT getting carried away.
Bcos some here re saying he’s better dan W Zaha..
Wilfred Zaha dat keeps Epl defenders on dier toes in a match, for 90minutes??🤨
Saka has 5 goals all season with minutes 2562. Pepe got 10 in just 1614. Not slating Saka just curious if your judging them by the same metrics?
Pepe is durable, he was available for every minute of every game; he scored more goals per minute played than Saka, who is lauded as amazing, and Arsenal paid 76 million for him. So far, he’s been given about half a chance to shine.
This season Willian played just as many games. To any rational person the responsibility for Pepe’s limited contributions lie with the manager who played inferior players in Pepe’s stead.
He can’t score and he can’t assist is he’s sitting in the stands.
In that regard Willian did top the assist chart for the year with 5 in the league, slightly inconvenient truth for most. It doesn’t change the fact that Willian didn’t have a great season.. Also Arteta made a point of saying Pepe improved throughout the year so perhaps he wasn’t ready at the start of the season. 5 of his 10 league goals came this month for instance. You can believe in Pepe and believe he needed to work on things 1st, they are not mutually exclusive.