Arsenal: Thought process behind Nicolas Pepe benching doesn’t matter

Arsenal fas were riled up by Nicolas Pepe’s benching against Wolverhampton, but best not to read much into it. It was just one of two things.

Arsenal fans finally got what they wanted against Wolverhampton. Mesut Ozil started. After singing his name after Crystal Palace, they got what they wished for, with Unai Emery impressed enough by Ozil in midweek to give him the start against Wolves. The only cost of Ozil starting was… Nicolas Pepe didn’t touch the pitch.

And, being Arsenals fans, all joy of Ozil starting turned to anger at Pepe’s benching. It’s still being talked about as if Emery committed one of the seven deadly sins, but what this really comes down to is one of two things.

Either Unai Emery made a spontaneous, snap decision without giving it much thought. Or this is an overdue part of Nicolas Pepe’s acclimation in the Premier League. Whichever it is, there’s no point thinking about it, because no thought is required.

Unai Emery’s decision making this year has been skeptical at best, which is why I do think it’s possible that he just arbitrarily thought, “gotta get Ozil in there, so let’s sit Pepe down”… as if drawing names out of a hat.

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If you’re going to start Ozil, might as well give him two elite strikes to feed, right? And since Ozil weakens the midfield presence, he built up the midfield around him. Pepe is the odd man out. That does it. Settled.

Maybe you believe that Emery put more thought into this and purposely left Pepe out. I can totally buy that too, in which case, good for him. Pepe has struggled this year, bar those two excellent free kick goals against Vitoria.

Just because he cost a lot of money doesn’t mean he gets free passes into the starting XI. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are both aching to get more time and exposure, they deserve it just as much, and priority should be given to who’s playing best, not who cost the most.

Those are the two options. Either Emery found Pepe the odd man out, or Emery felt like it was time to sit Pepe down for a learning experience. Either way, hard to fault Emery at all. He did what people have wanted.

You’re never going to please everyone, and Emery is certainly no exception to that, since he’s pleasing nearly no one. But whatever the thought process was here, it was well handled.