Arsenal: So… about the whole “taking it slow” with Nicolas Pepe

Arsenal released a statement that Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac would not play against Newcastle. So… what was that about taking it slow with Nicolas Pepe?

After a frightening incident that saw two knife-wielding thugs attack Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac, Arsenal have announced that neither player will take part in the opening match against Newcastle due to ongoing security incidents. Which seems to hint that there have been more issues with the two players’ safety since the one caught on camera.

This comes right after Unai Emery also announced that Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe were doubts for the opening match, with Lacazette dealing with an injury and Pepe having spent the summer participating in the African Cup of Nations.

That leaves our attack woefully undermanned. To the extent that the ideal front three of Pepe-Lacazette-Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang turned to Ozil-Aubameyang-Mkhitaryan, now turning to Reiss Nelson-Aubameyang-Mkhitaryan.

It’s not the worst thing in the world to start Reiss Nelson, and honestly, it’s pretty exciting, but that’s not the kind of attack that we spent all this money to build, and I’m wondering if maybe, just this once, we scrap the whole “take it slow” with Nicolas Pepe idea and give him the green light.

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Pepe is not fully fit, but if he can give us 45 minutes and trade off with Nelson at half, then maybe we can scrap together an attack that can still provide Aubameyang the chances that he needs to be truly effective.

It’s kind of messed up, hearing about these security concerns, and obviously player safety takes top priority, but now we do have to think how this affects the team both now and in the long-term. If Pepe isn’t dealing with any injuries, and is only trying to regain full fitness after AFCON, maybe it’s in the clubs’ best interests to get him out there now to give this attack a jolt that appears all-too necessary.

There are bigger things than a football match, I get that, and this business with Ozil and Kolasinac falls in that category, but in the meantime, with the season on the doorstep, taking a few risky steps in order to put together a full team isn’t the worst idea in the world.

And, if nothing else, seeing Nicolas Pepe out there would be such an amazing injection of hope for the season. Especially once he bags that brace that we all know is coming.