Arsenal: Nicolas Pepe finally makes his mark

Nicolas Pepe scored a terrific goal in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over West Ham on Monday night. He finally made his mark. Now, he must replicate it.

Like it or not, when you pay a pretty penny for something, the expectations. Like if you bought a car for double the price of another, you would expect it come with certain features. Greater comfort, a more powerful engine, perhaps more space, better quality materials and design. As they say, you pay for what you get. It is the same with footballers.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Freddie’s First Foray

In signing Nicolas Pepe for £72 million this summer, Arsenal were attempting to pay top dollar for a top dollar player. Rather than cheap out on a Ryan Fraser or Yannick Carrasco, the Gunners pursued one of the best wide players on the market. They paid a pretty price to get him, admittedly, but they were also expecting a greater return on that investment.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Thus far, such a return has not come. Prior to the weekend’s slate of games, Pepe had scored just three goals, one from a penalty and two from freekicks. He was yet to set a game alight and had only put in one match-winning performance, that coming from off the bench in the Europa League. Not exactly ideal.

However, on Monday night, in a 3-1 victory over West Ham United, we saw Pepe’s first genuine match-winning performance from the very start. He played all but the final moments, withdrawn for Reiss Nelson, and was Arsenal’s most threatening player throughout. Even during a wretched first 45 minutes, he was the most likely attacker to cause problems, dribbling at and past West Ham defenders with alarming frequency.

In the second half, he then came to life, first whipping a left-foot strike into the far corner, as he was known to do for Lille last year, for his first open-play goal of the campaign, and then, three minutes later, in a very similar area of the pitch, clipping a cross over the top of the West Ham defence for the third and final goal of the game.

After the match, interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg was asked abiut Pepe’s struggles up until this point and what this performance might do for his confidence moving forward. The Swede, who knows a thing or two about scoring goals from out wide, said:

"“People always ask me about Nico and I try to explain. He comes from the French league, he comes to the Premier League – in my opinion the best league in the world – and it’s a lot faster and a lot harder. He needs to adapt. People put pressure on him but that’s not so easy, and I thought what he did today was he worked really hard offensively and defensively and showed his quality. I’m so pleased for him because at the same time he was a big, big buy for the club and then comes pressure with that as well. He will fall asleep with a smile tonight!”"

This performance really was Pepe finally making his mark. He stamped his authority on the match, dragged his team from the brink of yet another defeat, and carried them on his back. It is precisely what a £72 million player should be able to do. It is why Arsenal paid extra to get him.

dark. Next. Arsenal Vs West Ham: 5 things we learned

What this means for Pepe for the rest of this season remains to be seen. But for now, it is nice to simply see him smiling. It has been a tough start to life in north London, but now his mark has been made, hopefully he can kick on and flourish.

Home/Arsenal News