Arsenal verdict: Nicolas Pepe fails to take his chance once again… how long will Mikel Arteta’s patience last?

NICOLAS PEPE is giving Mikel Arteta a real headache and it doesn’t look like the Arsenal manager has a remedy.

The Gunners’ £72million record signing was anonymous to the point of invisible as his team surrendered their grip on the FA Cup to industrious Southampton.

And he is rapidly becoming a luxury which Arteta can no longer afford to indulge if he is going to turn this struggling team around.

It is no coincidence that Arsenal’s recent revival began when Bukayo Saka replaced Pepe on the right wing.

The out of touch Ivorian hasn’t started a Premier League match since the 2-1 defeat at Everton on December 19 which left Arsenal down in 15th place in the table.

But with Arteta resting most of his senior stars for Tuesday’s return to St Mary’s, Pepe was handed the opportunity to show that he still has something to offer.

Yet once again he failed to make a convincing argument for a regular place in the starting line-up as this fourth round tie passed him by.

He didn’t even touch the ball until the tenth minute, and even then it was a dreadful corner which failed to clear the first defender.

A cleverly disguised free-kick over the top of the Southampton defender did pick out Gabriel Martinelli for a shooting opportunity which the young Brazilian was unable to take.

A shot which was charged down by Jan Bednarek and a couple of clever passes to Eddie Nketiah followed, but Arsenal are surely entitled to expect so much more from a player who cost so much.

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And it wasn’t just his lack of attacking threat which will be giving cause for concern as he failed to respond to Arteta’s repeated pleas for much urgency.

Because he showed absolutely no interest in putting in the hard yards to help out defensively as Saints full-back Ryan Bertrand was regularly left unattended to fire in crosses on the overlap.

It looked like it was all too much effort for a player who is clearly short of confidence as well as inspiration.

Quite how he gets his career back on track from here is anyone’s guess.

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