Arsenal: 3 reasons you’re all wrong about Nicolas Pepe

1. He’s exactly what we needed

For years, we didn’t have a winger that could be counted on to do exactly what Pepe has been doing (see previous slide for more statistic details). All our wingers were either repurposed creative midfielders or wanted to be somewhere else in the formation.

Nobody had the speed and technical ability to create for themselves, to razzle-dazzle with a few tricky steps, to shake the defense all on their own. The closest we got was Joel Campbell (who I still think got a bad rap).

Nicolas Pepe is an actual winger who can create for himself, who can razzle-dazzle with a few tricky steps, who can shake the defense all on his own. Sure, sometimes he tries too hard. He’s new. Give him a break.

Pepe is the winger we’ve been wanting. How exactly no one is capable of recognizing that is so far beyond me. He does everything we wanted Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott, Joel Campbell, etc. to do. And he scores more goals than all of them to boot.