Just minutes after some lax marking and a frozen stance saw Nicolas Pepe contribute to Arsenal falling behind against Southampton, the Ivorian has made up for his mistake with a fine equaliser.
In the 7th minute of the tie, Stuart Armstrong’s opener was cancelled out when Bukayo Saka intercepted a shocking pass out of the back from Jack Stephens.
Saka shifted the ball across to Thomas Partey, who laid it off to Granit Xhaka, the Swiss star showed his rare creativity in threading the ball through to Pepe with a fine pass.
Pepe brilliantly held off pressure before composing himself and drilling the ball into the corner.
8′ #Southampton 1-1 #Arsenal
? Nicolas Pepe
Follow @_EPLGOAL all Premier league goals.#PremierLeague | #SOUARS pic.twitter.com/lx8XjTWQTj
— Premier League Goal (@_EPLGOAL) January 26, 2021
Pictures from RMC Sport.
This is just Pepe’s fifth start for the Gunners in the Premier League this season from 13 outings, Mikel Arteta has used the club-record signing in a minimal role since taking over.