Ian Wright claims that Nicolas Pepe’s performance has improved since his red card against Leeds United.
The Ivorian has had a tough time at Arsenal since he moved to the Emirates last season.
After taking his time to get used to the Premier League in the last campaign, we expected him to start this one in solid form.
But he didn’t and he was even out of the team for a long period at some point.
However, he is finally showing fine form and enjoyed a good February that ended with him scoring Arsenal’s last goal in their 3-1 win over Leicester.
He has even been nominated for the Player of the Month at the club and Wright says he has worked harder and that is paying off at the moment.
The Arsenal legend hails him for taking people on when he gets the ball now, something he wasn’t doing before.
“Since the red card, he’s worked a lot harder,” Wright told Optus Sport. “He’s got a lot more confidence, it is like the manager has said ‘get on the ball, and do your stuff’.
“He’s taking people on, working harder and then when he gets the ball, he’s being a lot more positive.
“He seems to have a certain amount of confidence, which I didn’t see earlier in the season. His value is nothing to do with him, you use him how he wants to be used. Him and Cedric have got a really good thing going, back him up.”
I believe it turned around once he moved to the LW, seemed to build his confidence + he wasn’t paired up with Bellerin which has made all the difference.
LW/RW with Cedric behind 👌
Pepe. Xhaka. Luiz. That’s the key then to get underperforming players to step up. Red card them!
Arguably shows strong character in all of them.
Pepe is a very valuable player….If he can improve his decision making…His dribbling abilities are a joy to watch
Pepe is a good player. I think he can continue to grow. Defo plays better with cedric behind him. He does will om the LW and Saka is better on RW.
Tbh pepe auba and saka are a scary thought. I would love to have them all on the pitch
Surely the scary thought will be for our opponents, not ours! Strange English!
It took us too long to solve the Pepe puzzle. But, finally all the deadwood references are over. This is just my opinion, but I feel the players’ confidence was shattered when we signed Willian and demoted him to the bench. We have also seen a more dynamic and consistent Pepe when paired with Soares on the right.
Spot on RFrancis; dropped and not selected for no apparent reason, played out of position on the wrong side, bringing in of Willian, but now developing a good partnership with Cedric Soares. His future looks brighter.