There was one Arsenal man that managed to fly under the radar as Unai Emery’s men came from behind twice with just 10 men to win 3-2 at home to Aston Villa (via BBC).
The Gunners were 1-0 down and a man down after just 41 minutes of their contest yesterday, however, pulled through thanks to goals from Nicolas Pepe, Calum Chambers and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Matteo Guendouzi will have earnt most of the plaudits after his monstrous performances in midfield. The French midfielder won the penalty for the Arsenal’s first goal and played a delightful ball for the second as Chambers poked home.
As always, Aubameyang popped up with the crucial goal to ensure the north London giants didn’t go three consecutive Premier League games without a win. That was the Gabon international’s 16th goal in his last 16 games in all competitions for the club (via Twitter).
However, it was Pepe that managed to go unnoticed, scoring the crucial first goal in both the game and his Arsenal career (via Transfermarkt).
The Ivory Coast winger proved a lively figure during his 90 minutes on the pitch as he attempted the most dribbles and had the most shots for the club, proving a constant threat on Tom Heaton’s goal (via WhoScored). The winger was also very useful when in possession of the ball, losing it the joint-second least amount of times of any Arsenal player.
Football.london seemed to agree with this assessment of the Ivorian, giving Pepe a seven out of 10 as they highlighted his contribution towards the game.
They said: “He is off the mark and as soon as he stroked that penalty in the swagger and verve that seemed to have evaded him at Watford last week was evident in abundance.
“Even before then he had been a dangerous attacking weapon, constantly driving at Neil Taylor and looking to provoke a mistake from the Aston Villa left-back.”
“By the end of the game, Pepe led his side for key passes, shots on target and dribbles completed in perhaps his best game yet in an Arsenal shirt.” (Source: football.london)
Pepe is finally off the mark for his new side, and if he can keep up the same level of attacking performances, he could go some way into proving worth the major money spent on his services.
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