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Arsenal star struggling to find minutes under Arteta

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The 25-year-old Arsenal front-man expressed his unhappiness for lack of playtime under head coach Mikel Arteta.

Nicolas Pepe revealed that he is unhappy as he does not get enough playing time at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta. This is just weeks after receiving a warning that if he fails to show consistency, he might end up like Mesut Ozil. 

Arteta has been merciless in recent months following Ozil’s omission from Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squads. And evidently, Pepe was warned by Martin Keown to keep up his pace in order to stay away from contention.

Keown told BT Sport: “These are the moments from Pepe that we were expecting when he first arrived. We haven’t seen enough from this player, and it is, how can you get the best?

“We’ve all talked about Ozil not being around and the manager saying he failed the player. What about Pepe now? We’re moving onto the next generation.

“How do you get the best from him, and is he getting the best from himself?

“We saw that little bit of magic there, he’s creative, he’s got the technique, but it’s about bringing those out in key moments for Arsenal.”

Therefore, Pepe is feeling heavy-hearted ever since he has been lacking action on the pitch. Arsenal signed the attacker for a record of £72 million.

“My goal is to play more. Have a little more playing time,” Pepe told Canal Plus.

“A player who plays is happy. For me, I would like to play a little more to find a smile again. He [Arteta] wants me to be 100 percent focused during the 90 minutes of the match. Afterward, I see during training that I will be a substitute the following weekend.

“But the coach speaks to me, he also has assistants who are there for that. But it is frustrating for any player to be on the bench.”

Nevertheless, Pepe has racked 12 appearances this season scoring three goals for the Gunners.

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