Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe simply must ensure he outshines Ryan Fraser this weekend

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal take on Bournemouth this weekend at the Emirates Stadium, and Nicolas Pepe needs a big performance.

The Ivory Coast international has underwhelmed slightly following his £72 million transfer from Lille in the summer (BBC Sport).

The rapid forward has scored one penalty goal and made one assist so far in 2019/20, and fans expected a slightly better output at this point.

Clearly Pepe is still acclimatising to English football and realistically needs a full season under his belt before being judged properly.

He could do with a strong showing this weekend to buy him some breathing space though, and what will be important is that he has a better game than the Cherries’ Ryan Fraser.

Fraser was linked (The Independent) with a move to the Emirates Stadium this summer before Pepe ended up joining, and the African won’t want the ex-Gunners ‘target’ showing him up.

TBR’s view

Fraser, who missed last weekend’s game with West Ham United through illness but should return, was a name that many Arsenal fans embraced this summer.

Believing there wasn’t much money to spend, Fraser was seen by many as a decent ‘budget option’ at around £30 million.

Last term he scored eight goals and provided 15 assists in all competitions, and he could be a real threat to Arsenal’s shaky defence on Sunday – in an ideal world for Pepe, he’ll give the Bournemouth backline even more problems.