Arsenal may have drawn against Brighton at the weekend, but let’s not let that take away from the fact the Gunners are in great form right now.
The London club are unbeaten in four, winning three of those matches, and they seem to have finally settled on a solid starting XI.
The likes of Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale and Thomas Partey have been starring, but the two main men have undoubtedly been Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.
The two Hale End graduates have been shining every time they step onto the pitch, and they seem to have made the wide positions their own.
Indeed, Saka has been starring on the right while Smith Rowe has been shining on the left, and it seems as though they will be Mikel Arteta’s long-term first choices on the wings.
It’s hard to argue against Saka and Smith Rowe being two of the first names on the teamsheets, but there’s one man at the Emirates who has every reason to be worried by their recent runs of good form.
Of course, we’re talking about Nicolas Pepe.
The Ivorian arrived at Arsenal in 2019 for £72m and many believed that the club-record signing would be a key player in the Gunners’ attack for years to come.
However, here we are two years on and he’s out of the starting XI, and the scariest part is that he’s been usurped by two young, homegrown talents who will only improve.
Even if Saka or Smith Rowe do drop out of the XI, due to their potential and homegrown status, fans will immediately be clamouring for their return, and that leaves Pepe in a precarious situation.
He seemingly doesn’t have much of a route back into the team and time isn’t on his side either as Saka and Smith Rowe continue to develop, seemingly on a weekly basis.
The man Mikel Arteta once described as ‘phenomenal’ may find starts hard to come by from now on, and given that the likes of Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Martinelli are also coming through, he could slip even further down the pecking order in coming years.
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