Ian Wright has criticised Nicolas Pepe and Willian for their performance in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Newcastle United yesterday.
Both players have been underperforming for a large part of this season, and they hadn’t been in the starting XI in the last few games.
They, however, were given the chance to impress in the match against the Magpies, they failed to take that chance.
Arsenal struggled for much of the game until Mikel Arteta introduced the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette, whom he had originally wanted to rest.
Despite being signed for £72million, Pepe missed another opportunity to show Arsenal that he belongs at this level.
Willian has won multiple trophies in England, yet he showed again why Arsenal was wrong to think he would bring something to their team.
The Brazilian is making £220,000 a week at Arsenal and he will do that for two more seasons which is terrible to think about.
Wright says both players have missed their chance to impress. He told BBC Sport as quoted by Sun Sports: “Very, very poor from [Pepe] today.
“Same with Willian. These are two players we needed a lot from, and we are just not getting it, to be honest.
“In the end, Mikel Arteta had to bring on his best guys because the guys he brought in, just didn’t do it in the first half.
“That was the opportunity for Newcastle to take advantage but they just didn’t have the quality.”