Arsenal: The next step for Nicolas Pepe is a seat on the bench

Nicolas Pepe has struggled to settle in at Arsenal, and while we shouldn’t be panicking by any means, it is time for his next step—a seat on the bench.

Everyone is talking about Nicolas Pepe these days, but unfortunately it’s for all the wrong reasons. The record-breaking Arsenal man has not settled in, which has prompted criticism from one camp, and defense from the other camp (a camp that involves Wilfried Zaha and Arsene Wenger… hm…)

There’s no reason to panic about Pepe. He’s going to settle in. He’s going to be involved in gobs of goals, and everyone that criticized him is going to quietly hope that no one remembers that they did indeed criticize him.

But in the mean time, that doesn’t mean he gets a clear pathway to the starting XI. Arsene Wenger pointed out that Pepe can expect a fight for his position, and I’d take that a step further and say that the next step in Pepe’s involvement is a seat on the bench (next to Sokratis… and David Luiz).

Pepe began the season coming off the bench. He started to make an impact as a substitute. He was given the starting job to round off a killer front three with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

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And that’s where he hit the wall. He couldn’t finish, he couldn’t create, he couldn’t keep hold of the ball. Without Lacazette’s injury, he would have been replaced awhile ago. But he’s been sharing the pitch now with Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka. Saka has been everything that Pepe wishes he might be, just younger and much less expensive.

Lacazette is coming back from his injury and, when he does, Unai Emery needs to do the right thing and let Saka keep his spot on the team while Pepe returns to where he started the season—on the bench. There, he can learn to earn his spot again, he can pinpoint his involvement to 15, 20 minute appearances off the bench and, that way, he will ideally find his way into some better form.

It’s not always an easy step to take, no doubt. No one wants to end up on the bench. But for many, it’s the big step between struggling to find form and reaching irreplaceable status.

The key is letting Pepe know that nothing is guaranteed. Which I’m sure he already knows, but nothing reinforces the point like a good sit down.