With the arrival of Willian from Chelsea in the summer - many believed he would be back up to Nicolas Pépé on the right of Arsenal's front three.

But having started the first four Premier League games of the season it would seem Pépé faces a difficult task to break into Mikel Arteta's starting XI.

Disappointing cameos when called upon have not helped aid his argument to start in the league. Last weekend, in the first of the two games Arsenal played at Anfield, his two misplaced corners merely emphasised Pépé's toothless display. 

He has however already had some good performances this season before yesterday - he was particularly good against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup third round where he forced a Christian Fuch's own goal.

But also in the fourth round against Liverpool where he displayed great discipline in getting back to defend when needed, yet also giving Liverpool's defence some headaches going forward - scoring a penalty in Arsenal's shootout win to boot. 

  • Here there and everywhere?

Pépé has been deployed in several positions so far this season. We have seen him on the left, on the right, and even as a centre-forward at times.

As someone who watched him a few times at Lille and having seen him for a year; it is very clear he is best on the right of the front three where he has the option to come inside onto his lethal left foot - as you can see with his goal yesterday.

Towards the start of the calendar year, and somewhat post-lockdown, it was clear we were seeing the best of 'Nico' at Arsenal. He benefitted a lot from the number 10 behind him; pre-lockdown being Mesut Özil and even post-lockdown with the youngster Bukayo Saka.

Pépé can definitely find himself isolated when Arsenal deploys a midfield double pivot of Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka - both being more deep-lying central midfielders.

This is perhaps a reason why Arsenal were strongly interested in the enigmatic Houssem Aouar who could act as the link man to help Pépé receive the ball in more dangerous positions. 

  • What has gone wrong so far?

Nicolas can cut a frustrated figure at times at Arsenal - as his father put it: he must learn football is not for fun, it is his job.

But captain Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang confirmed that Arteta does not plan on merely giving up on Nicolas - he is a huge fan of the player and wants to help develop him into one of the best in the world.

Telefoot, a French publication, explained that Pépé is supposedly Arteta's favourite player behind the scenes.

This season is a big one for Pépé. Coming to Arsenal for a huge, record-breaking fee comes with added pressure - whether fairly or unfairly.

Personally, taking everything into perspective; it is clear that Nicolas did not have an easy first season in English football. Playing under three separate managers of Unai Emery, Freddie Ljungberg and Mikel Arteta.

He also had the obstacle of COVID-19 disrupting his form that was beginning to pick up in January and February of this year - it has been incredibly difficult.

  • Looking ahead

Pépé must kick on this year. There are no doubts whatsoever about his ability, it is his application that has let him down at times. Pépé has the talent to push Arsenal to a top-four finish this year as well as a deep run into the cup competitions (domestic and European). 

After successive effective performances, it would not be surprising to see him start the first game back after the international break against Manchester City at the Etihad stadium.

Arsenal fans would like to see him get a run of games on the right-hand side of Arsenal's front three - the fluid attacking quartet of Willian, Aubameyang, Saka and Pépé against Sheffield United yesterday was incredibly successful and could be a way forward for Arsenal as an attacking force.