Nicolas Pepe: Arsenal forward unhappy with lack of playing time
Nicolas Pepe has admitted he is unhappy with his lack of playing time under Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
The 25-year-old, Arsenal’s £72m record signing, has impressed in the cup competitions this season but has started only one match in the Premier League.
“My goal is to play more. To have a little more playing time,” Pepe told French channel Canal Plus.
“A player who plays is happy. For me, I would like to play a little more to find a smile again.
Pepe has only started one Premier League match this season but has featured regularly in the cups
“He (Arteta) wants me to be 100 per cent focused during the 90 minutes of the match. Afterwards, I see during training that I will be a substitute the following weekend.
“But the coach speaks to me, he also has assistants who are there for that. But it is frustrating for any player to be on the bench.
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“A super-sub role? The coach makes his choices. It’s up to me to show him that I don’t have that role.”
Pepe has scored 11 goals in 54 appearances since joining Arsenal from Lille in 2019.
How is Mikel Arteta’s style impacting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has seen his role change under Arteta
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s role has changed at Arsenal since Mikel Arteta arrived, but what impact is it having on the forward’s potency?
Aubameyang has scored just two Premier League goals this season, and failed to register a shot on target in Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat by Aston Villa on Sunday evening. In fact, he’s registered just 10 shots on target in eight games this season.
The 32-year-old has been moved more to the left-wing under Arteta, and asked to do more defensive work in an Arsenal which has shown signs of becoming more solid. But for Aubameyang, that has meant a drop in goals and shots per game.
Sky Sports’ Gerard Brand:
“There’s no denying that Aubameyang is used in a different way under Arteta. In fairness to Arteta, he came in, put his foot down and said: ‘This is how I want my forward players playing… you may be scoring a lot of goals… but it isn’t winning us more games!’
“I imagine that threw Aubameyang back a bit, and then we essentially had a year-long contract saga. Even Arteta admitted he doubted whether Aubameyang would sign the contract.
Aubameyang (marked in green) has been playing in a wide role down the left flank this season
“If you think of it from Aubameyang’s point of view – expectation has gone up with a £350k-a-week contract,…
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