TBR View: Nicolas Pepe deserves Arsenal chance after recent cameo displays

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Arsenal were pretty lucky during last week’s draw with West Ham United but a few positives did emerge after the 3-3 draw.

The performance of Martin Odegaard was praised by plenty, whilst supporters were also happy with Alexandre Lacazette’s performance.

Another man stepped off the bench to show Mikel Arteta exactly why he is deserving of more opportunities.

Nicolas Pepe put in a pin-point cross for Lacazette to score a late equaliser for the Gunners and he’s handing his boss a sizeable headache.

The Ivorian only played for 16 minutes of last weekend’s game but that was enough time for him to make an impact.

It’s fair to say that since his £72 million signing from Lille, he has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League.

That said, his game time of late has been sporadic and that won’t be doing the 25-year-old much good.

During 2020/21 he has started just 10 games in the Premier League but has scored five goals and claimed his first assist on Sunday.

In the Europa League, he has scored three goals and registered as many assists from nine outings.

The £100,000-a-week performer hasn’t looked like money well spent just yet but there are indications that he can still become an Arsenal hit.

Last week his blistering pace placed West Ham on the back foot and his array of skills left the opposition all ends up.

It would seem as though Pepe is a confidence player and the only way he will build up some real consistency will be through playing regularly.

Arsenal do have some decent options out wide, although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in particular has struggled of late.

With that in mind, Arteta would be wise to hand Pepe a run of games between now and the end of the season.