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Arsenal youngster Emile Smith Row says Nicolas Pepe’s ability is ‘unbelievable’, after the Ivorian rescued the Gunners to beat Vitoria in the Europa League.
The north Londoners were 2-1 down heading into the last 10 minutes, but were bailed out courtesy of two fantastic free-kicks from their club-record signing.
It was undoubtedly Pepe’s best moment in an Arsenal shirt so far, having struggled to find his feet over the past couple of months.
To Smith Rowe, it was no surprise to see him scoring from the dead-ball situations.
He said (Metro): “He practices free-kicks and penalties a lot, and is always putting them away. I’m not surprised he scored both tonight.
“Nico works very hard in training. He always stays behind after to practice his set-pieces, I think tonight he’s shown what he’s capable of doing and I’m sure they won’t be the two last goals he scores. His ability is unbelievable.”
Pepe now has three goals this season and will be hoping to kick on after his Thursday night heroics.
TBR’s view – Pepe offers a glimpse
Arsenal fans finally got a proper glimpse of what £140,000-a-week star Pepe (Spotrac) can bring.
He won’t have been happy with the way he started following his £72 million move from Lille, but it’s a chance for him now to really kick on and take confidence from this moment.
Clearly there is a player in there, as evidenced by his amazing 2018/19 season with Lille – he just needs to relax and trust the ‘unbelievable ability’ of which Smith Rowe speaks.
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