Arsenal vs Burnley: Allow Nicolas Pepe to continue making strides

Arsenal travel to Turf Moor on Saturday to face a Burnley side in need of points to drag them out of a relegation scrap, while Mikel Arteta’s side require a win to…not be tenth?

With the unquestionable improvements in the side since Christmas, all the club can do at this stage is continue winning league matches, building momentum and hoping for an alarming slump of form for about six teams above them.

Every facet of the side is more fine-tuned and efficient and when European football returns after Burnley the hopes of a campaign will rest on two legs against Olympiacos. Bridging the gap to those above them in the Premier League table ever so slightly, the players contributing are making their own, exciting strides.

Nicolas Pepe is playing his best football in an Arsenal shirt – there hasn’t been much competition up until now – and the watershed moment supporters have longed for seems to, finally, have surfaced.

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Arsenal vs Burnley: Mikel Arteta shouldn’t drop Nicolas Pepe unless he’s resting him for the Europa League

Devastating against Leicester in the comeback win, the decision on whether to field him for Saturday should drift by without a second’s thought. He should play.

Mikel Arteta has drawn criticism for not rewarding the Ivorian when the inklings of talent have burst through the seams, instead falling back on Willian and consigning Pepe to a role on the bench. After his own best display of the season, the Brazilian deserves another start, right? That notion has basis, if it weren’t already to have occurred umpteen times this season without the faintest glimmer of being successful.

At 25 years old, Pepe has a meaningful say in how the future of Arsenal will look. Blatant talent is being matched with the work-rate, confidence and tactical intelligence that had been lacking up until this point, and Arteta has to nurture that trajectory with opportunities for him to maintain those standards.

Burnley ship plenty of goals, have full-backs who struggle one-on-one and lack pace, so the platform is there.

Willian may get the nod. Bukayo Saka may get another rest. Yet in every outcome Pepe needs the support of his manager, the arm around his shoulder and the injection of confidence he needs to be a major player for the club moving forward. He’s a confidence player.

With Emile Smith Rowe injured there will be two wide players in the side, thus selecting the right ones is what’s needed. If Willian plays it’s because he earned it, but there is no argument to be made that he’s more deserving of the nod than Pepe. Even with the physical duels to come building a strong case for Alexandre Lacazette to start, Pepe should be flanking him.

If Arteta has an eye on Olympiacos then it’s understood to a degree, but he needs to flex his man-management muscles – one of the more questionable traits of the man in charge – and play his best player from the King Power Stadium. Unleash Pepe onto the Premier League.