Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took all the plaudits as Arsenal beat Chelsea to lift the FA Cup on Saturday. The Gabon international’s brace was enough to get the Gunners into the Europa League next season, but many of his teammates were hugely impressive as well.
Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos ran the midfield for the majority of the game, while Arsenal’s three centre-halves and Emiliano Martinez in goal were quite brilliant as well.
One player who was also impressive was Nicolas Pepe. The Ivorian was a real problem for Chelsea on the right wing, even before he assisted Aubameyang’s second goal.
Pepe scored a sensational strike just before Arsenal’s opener but that, sadly, was ruled out for offside. The former Lille man is slowly getting to his best after his tough start to life in England.
His confidence will be sky-high after picking up his first trophy in Arsenal colours. Now a video has been going around social media which shows that he was incredibly confident of the result one day before the final.
In the video, Pepe was asked if Arsenal would win and qualify for the Europa League next season and the Ivorian’s reply, which included a small dig at Olivier Giroud, will leave Gunners supporters delighted.
Arsenal’s club-record signing replied in French: “Tomorrow we qualify for Europa League. I don’t want to hear about Chelsea, Olivier Giroud… tomorrow it’s Aubameyang. Pepe.”
Dig at Giroud probably because of his comments after Baku
Arsenal have a history of their former players coming back and scoring against them. Robin van Persie did that a few times while Danny Welbeck managed to do the same in the final game of the season.
Ex-Gunners star Giroud did the same in the Europa League final in Baku last year. The Frenchman was caught in a video shouting ‘Thank you Arsenal’ after the game which irked a number of fans.
Pepe saying that he didn’t want to hear about Giroud might just be a response to the Frenchman’s dig against the Gunners last year and Arsenal fans simply love it.
Gunners supporters will be hoping that Pepe will be at his best next season. Eight goals and 10 assists in his debut campaign in England is not a bad record at all, but the Ivorian is capable of a lot more than 18 goal contributions next season.
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