What has happened?
Arsenal’s record signing Nicolas Pepe has yet to start a game for the North London club in the Premier League 19/20 season. However, in Unai Emery’s press conference, it appears that the Frenchman could potentially be named in the starting eleven when Arsenal face the Reds this weekend.
The Gunners will don their third kit when they play at Anfield this Saturday. Last time around, Arsenal took the lead against Jurgen Klopp’s men, but were eventually humbled by a scoreline of 5-1.
This season, only the Reds and Arsenal have won all six points from the opening two matches. However, this weekend match is set to end one of the team’s winning streak.
What did Unai Emery say?
The Spanish manager gave his thoughts about Pepe who has now trained with the squad for about three weeks. He mentioned,
“Now he is three weeks into working here with us. He didn’t do the pre-season here but he’s progressively feeling better. “
“For example, in the first match, he played 15 minutes in Newcastle, then he played 45 minutes against Burnley. I think his individual performances are progressively getting better.”
“For Saturday, he is maybe ready to have more minutes. I am going to decide tomorrow, but really his progress has been positive and has been good for the team and for him.”
Besides Pepe, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil have also returned to training. The Swiss midfielder missed the match against Burnley after picking up a knock in the opening game. Meanwhile, Ozil did not play last week as he was in the midst of recovering from his illness.
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