Unai Emery explains why Nicolas Pepe did not play against Barcelona | OneFootball

Arsenal fans were left disappointed on Sunday, not because they lost to Barcelona, but because they didn’t get to see Nicolas Pepe in an Arsenal shirt.

Many of us expected to see Arsenal’s record signing lining up at the Nou Camp at some point but when the travelling Arsenal squad was announced, the winger was nowhere to be seen.

So what’s the problem?

It’s simple, he’s just not match fit yet.

“Tomorrow we are going to train together,” said Emery after the match on Sunday. “Each day for him [Pepe] and for us is information we can save. We hope he can be [available] for this [Newcastle] match. With him, I want to be patient.

“He is in the same situation as the other players who have been coming in the last days. For example, Lucas [Torreira], after one week of training today has his first 10 minutes. With Pepe it’s the same. It’s better to be training and working with us.”

Arsenal travel to Newcastle next weekend and those who were paying attention at the start of last season will remember the frustration we felt as Emery kept Lucas Torreira on the bench initially.

In the first league match of the season he was introduced after 70 minutes and he didn’t start a Premier League game until the sixth match on 23 September against Everton after getting his first Arsenal start against Vorskla in the Europa League a few days before.