Jamie Carragher says he was delighted for Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe

Add as preferred source on Google

Jamie Carragher has told Monday Night Football (broadcast on Sky Sports; 9/12; 22:10) that he was delighted for Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe after he scored a brilliant goal in the Gunners’ 3-1 win against West Ham United.

Arsenal have their first victory under Freddie Ljungberg. It did appear that it was going to be another disappointing night for the North London side. They went into the break 1-0 down after Angelo Ogbonna’s goal.

But Gabriel Martinelli equalised on the hour-mark. And Pepe put the visitors ahead shortly after. The former Lille man curled a sumptuous effort into the back of the net with his left foot.

It was the summer signing’s first league goal since September. And Carragher admitted that he was extremely pleased to see Pepe silence a lot of his critics.

“I was delighted he scored because it’s not easy coming into the Premier League,” he told Monday Night Football. “Big signing, things haven’t gone well. The manager who signed you has left the club. So it’s not easy so I was delighted to see Pepe start, but also to get a goal.

“Fantastic, left-footed, bends it in.”

Arsenal fans will certainly hope that it is a turning point for Pepe, as well as for the rest of the team. Ljungberg will not be getting carried away. But the Gunners fought back after another disappointing half.

Pepe now needs to prove that he can step up on a regular basis. But it would be no surprise if the goal provides his confidence with a huge boost.