{"id":1112567,"date":"2019-10-26T19:45:23","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T18:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1112567"},"modified":"2019-10-26T18:46:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T17:46:27","slug":"arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/","title":{"rendered":"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Unai Emery has said Nicolas Pepe&#8217;s impressive cameo against Vitoria in the Europa League was &#8220;important&#8221; for Arsenal&#8217;s record signing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pepe came off the bench and scored two brilliant free-kicks \u2013 including one in the last minute \u2013 as Arsenal came from 2-1 down to beat their Portuguese visitors at the Emirates on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How has Pepe started at Arsenal? Five things to know&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Pepe has generally struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League since joining Arsenal.<\/li>\n<li>The forward had scored just once, a penalty, before Thursday night.<\/li>\n<li>On Thursday he found the net with two free-kicks against Vitoria in the Europa League.<\/li>\n<li>And Emery hopes the Ivorian will kick now on and settle in English football.<\/li>\n<li>Only Wilfried Zaha (41) has completed more dribbles than Pepe (30) in the Premier League this season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-color: transparent; display: block; padding: 0; max-width: 700px;\" title=\"Audioboom player\" src=\"https:\/\/embeds.audioboom.com\/posts\/7405357\/embed\/v4\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Ivorian, who joined Arsenal for a club record \u00a372m from Lille in the summer, has struggled to adjust to the Premier League since arriving.<\/p>\n<p>His difficult start was compounded when he missed a huge opportunity to score his first goal from open play against Sheffield United on Monday, shooting wide when it looked easier to score.<\/p>\n<p>But after his extraordinary brace in Europe, Pepe has been backed by his manager to build on his breakthrough performance when Arsenal host Crystal Palace this weekend.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Arsenal 3-2 Vitoria FT:<\/p>\n<p>Shots: 15-17<br \/>Pass accuracy: 84%-69%<br \/>Chances created: 12-11<br \/>Possession: 68%-32%<\/p>\n<p>Nicolas Pepe comes on. Nicolas Pepe scores. Arsenal get the three points. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CLrgRtGjp9\">https:\/\/t.co\/CLrgRtGjp9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Squawka (@Squawka) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Squawka\/status\/1187474301819092992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 24, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On the pitch he is feeling better,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/1195900\/Arsenal-news-Nicolas-Pepe-Europa-League-goals-Unai-Emery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emery said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On Thursday to play 20 minutes, scoring two goals and help us win the game is important for him and for us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hopefully in training on Saturday and in the game on Sunday he can keep moving ahead.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Can Man City Catch Liverpool? w\/Sam Lee &amp; The Anfield Wrap\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5COtzht_YjU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/sqwk.at\/Squawka-Sub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Zaha provides an interesting narrative<\/h2>\n<p>Wilfried Zaha was on the scoresheet when Palace recorded a surprise 3-2 win at the Emirates last season, and the winger&#8217;s performance likely played a part in Arsenal&#8217;s summer pursuit of him.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, Arsenal face Zaha for the first time since the summer transfer speculation, which ended when the Gunners refused to meet Palace&#8217;s valuation of their talisman.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal ended up signing Pepe instead, and both players will be looking to make headlines on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the duo sit top of the dribbling charts in the Premier League this season; Zaha has completed 41 take-ons while Pepe has completed 30.<\/p>\n<p>The pair of Ivory Coast internationals both have the potential to continue an interesting narrative on Sunday \u2013 will Zaha make Arsenal rue their decision to turn their attentions to Pepe?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unai Emery has said Nicolas Pepe&#8217;s impressive cameo against Vitoria in the Europa League was &#8220;important&#8221; for Arsenal&#8217;s record signing. Pepe came off the bench and scored two brilliant free-kicks \u2013 including one in the last minute \u2013 as Arsenal came from 2-1 down to beat their Portuguese visitors at the Emirates on Thursday night&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":1109711,"parent":0,"menu_order":4558,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Arsenal news: Emery backs Pepe to build on Europa League brace","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1112567","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arsenal news: Emery backs Pepe to build on Europa League brace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/06164056\/nicolas-pepe.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Jennings\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/85fcdaf7b28412faedc9cd37d725ecc1\"},\"headline\":\"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-26T18:45:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":434,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/06164056\\\/nicolas-pepe.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arsenal news: Emery backs Pepe to build on Europa League brace\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/06164056\\\/nicolas-pepe.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-26T18:45:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/06164056\\\/nicolas-pepe.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/en\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/06164056\\\/nicolas-pepe.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":707,\"caption\":\"Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe during the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium, London.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Squawka\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Squawka | EN\",\"description\":\"Football News, Stats, and More...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/85fcdaf7b28412faedc9cd37d725ecc1\",\"name\":\"Steve Jennings\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c57d17b9c4b00ebc70cd153558460c7801361ae3be2d02865b04e619ce6245be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c57d17b9c4b00ebc70cd153558460c7801361ae3be2d02865b04e619ce6245be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c57d17b9c4b00ebc70cd153558460c7801361ae3be2d02865b04e619ce6245be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Jennings\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/_Steve_Jennings\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/steve-jennings\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arsenal news: Emery backs Pepe to build on Europa League brace","description":"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution","og_description":"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/","og_site_name":"Squawka | EN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":707,"url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/06164056\/nicolas-pepe.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@squawka","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve Jennings","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/85fcdaf7b28412faedc9cd37d725ecc1"},"headline":"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution","datePublished":"2019-10-26T18:45:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/"},"wordCount":434,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/06164056\/nicolas-pepe.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/","name":"Arsenal news: Emery backs Pepe to build on Europa League brace","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/06164056\/nicolas-pepe.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-26T18:45:23+00:00","description":"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/06164056\/nicolas-pepe.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/10\/06164056\/nicolas-pepe.jpg","width":1024,"height":707,"caption":"Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe during the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium, London."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/arsenal-emery-backs-pepe-build-europa-league-brace\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Squawka","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Emery backs Arsenal winger Pepe to build on Europa League game-winning contribution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/","name":"Squawka | EN","description":"Football News, Stats, and More...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/85fcdaf7b28412faedc9cd37d725ecc1","name":"Steve Jennings","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c57d17b9c4b00ebc70cd153558460c7801361ae3be2d02865b04e619ce6245be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c57d17b9c4b00ebc70cd153558460c7801361ae3be2d02865b04e619ce6245be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c57d17b9c4b00ebc70cd153558460c7801361ae3be2d02865b04e619ce6245be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve Jennings"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/_Steve_Jennings"],"url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/steve-jennings\/"}]}},"yoast_title":"Arsenal news: Emery backs Pepe to build on Europa League brace","yoast_description":"Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to build on his match-winning Europa League performance when Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday.","yoast_keyword":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1112567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1112567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1109711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112567"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=1112567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}