The Gunners boss has explained why he used the Cote d’Ivoire international differently in Tuesday’s loss to the Saints.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has explained why he decided to play Nicolas Pepe as a left-back against Southampton.
The 25-year-old left-back, who was signed from Lille for a £ 72 million club record, has been used mostly on the right in his career.
Against the Saints on Tuesday, the Cote d’Ivoire international was shifted to the left while the England international of Nigerian descent Bukayo Saka was relegated to the right.
Nonetheless, Pepe – who started his first league from December 19, 2020 – was among the visitors as the Gunners traveled to a comfortable 3-1 victory against Ralph Hasenhuettl’s side at St Stadium. Mary.
Speaking to Arsenal’s website after the game, the former Manchester City assistant manager gave reasons for his tactical change.
“It was more because of what we wanted to do in an attack and the places we wanted to take advantage of,” Arteta told him. Arsenal website.
“We believed he could use some places there and it could be very effective in doing that.
“I thought the other day he had a good game and was involved in our best attacking times, and as he trained he deserved his chance. Today [on Monday] he did the job very well. ”
The former Lille star was warned by referee Kevin Friend in the 70th minute after he left the pitch too slowly before the Arsenal substitute entered. However, the Ivorian remained out of injury due to Emile Smith Rowe.
“Well we were going to take Nico off and take Gabi forward but Emile was injured, so we had to change immediately,” he continued.
“We didn’t want to use that substitution because then we had to do two. The referee believed we were wasting time or something and made a call. ”
After putting up a stunning display, Pepe – who now has three goals in 13 goals in the league – replaced Joseph Willock in the 90th minute.
Thanks to this result, Arsenal climbed to eight on England’s top flight record after collecting 30 points from 20 games. They will be full of confidence against Manchester United in their upcoming Premier League game.