Owen Hargreves has said on BT Sport, during their live Europa League coverage, that even Nicolas Pepe’s Arsenal teammates were shocked by his goal last night.
Pepe added Arsenal’s third against Dundalk, and he produced a wonderful piece of skill to do so.
The Ivorian dragged the ball with the studs of his left-foot on to his right, before curling a shot into the top corner from the edge of the box.
It was a quite brilliant goal, and Hargreaves noticed that all of Arsenal’s players were stunned by the moment of brilliance.
“He’s a really skilful player,” Hargreaves said. “And it was that unique that even his teammates know. That’s why the reaction, they’re all like ‘wow, what was that one’.”
The problem for Pepe is that his best moments in an Arsenal shirt have come in flashes.
There is very little doubting the wide-man’s skill in possession, but he needs to start producing on a consistent basis.
Pepe has been on the periphery of games too many times during his time at Arsenal so far, and has never quite managed to live up to his billing as the club’s record signing.
His goal last night should help to earn him more first-team chances though, and he could well feature from the start against Manchester United at the weekend now.
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