Arsenal warned not to 'slaughter' Nicolas Pepe

The Gunners’ record signing’s struggles to deliver on his potential has led to criticism, which Ljungberg feels is unfair.

Freddie Ljungberg is confident Nicolas Pepe ‘will come good’ for Arsenal and warned fans not to ‘slaughter’ him too much.

The Ivorian winger has struggled to live up to his €80m club-record transfer from Lille last year, with only one Premier League goal to his name this season. His dismissal in last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Leeds didn’t help matters.

But Pepe, who took responsibility for his actions at Elland Road, responded in superb fashion to help steer Arsenal to a 3-0 Europa League win over Molde on Thursday by scoring the opening goal of the game.

“I think Nico will come good,” Ljungberg, who coached Pepe and the Arsenal squad on an interim basis last season before Mikel Arteta’s appointment, told The Athletic.

“Nico wants to work. Every player makes mistakes. I got sent off at Spurs!

“Don’t slaughter them too much because it happens to all of us.

“The important thing is how they react afterwards and if he knuckles down, works even harder and still tries to prove himself. He’s not had the easiest time, there’s a lot of focus on him.

“I could say easy things like, ‘Yeah, he needs game time’. OK, but you have a lot of other players as well who need game time. That’s what is difficult.

“When you come from the French league to the Premier League, you need a bit of adaptation.

“It’s totally different football and everything around football. So you need game time but you need results at the same time. It’s not an easy balance.”