Mikel Arteta wants more from Nicolas Pepe

Mikel Arteta wants more goals from his star winger Nicolas Pepe.

The French winger had a topsy turvy Arsenal start since arriving from Lille in 2019 but has scored 10 goals this season and became an integral part of Arteta’s squad.

Mikel Arteta is backing Pepe to make a bigger step forward and is willing to support him in every possible way.

“I think he needed to do that, yes,” Arteta said when asked if Pepe had made adjustments to his mentality.

“He needed a period of adaptation and that is gone now. So we cannot rely on adaptation again. Now it is about performance and he can do it.

“He has got the players to support him, a manager that trusts him, he has got all the staff that are willing to help him and all the team-mates who really like him because he is a really likable character, so there are no excuses.”

He added: “He needs to have the right mindset and consistency to do what he can do because that is the level we are going to ask of him, the level I am asking of him.

“If it is something below that, he is not going to play but if he does what he can do he will have a big chance to play because he has incredible ability.”

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