Robert Pires insists Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe not cut out for Premier League.
Arsenal legend Robert Pires has suggested that Nicolas Pepe is not cut out for English football.
Pepe’s Arsenal struggles.
Nicolas Pepe joined Arsenal in the summer of 2019 from Lille.
The Gunners paid a staggering ВЈ72m to bring the Ivorian to north London.
And though a player of course has no control over his price-tag, to say that Pepe has since failed to come anywhere close to justifying such a fee would be putting it lightly.
Both Unai Emery, who has made public that he in fact wanted to sign Wilfried Zaha over Pepe, and Mikel Arteta, have struggled to get the best out of the gifted wide-man.
Pires on Nicolas Pepe.
Pepe has, to his credit, proven to be a useful squad player in the Europa League. However, it is clear that Arteta still has little trust in the former Lille man, with an ageing Willian and inexperienced Bukayo Saka regularly preferred when it comes to high-profile outings.
And now, a former Arsenal star has come out to question whether Pepe is even capable of performing in the Premier League.
Robert Pires was, of course, a huge success in north London, playing a key role in the Gunners’ glories under Arsene Wenger.
However, when speaking about Pepe during a recent interview, Pires revealed that he simply doesn’t believe Arsenal’s record signing is cut out for English football:
“His game doesn’t suit the intensity and demands of the Premier League.
“Pepe wasn’t used to it and it has been complicated for him to change his mentality, to adapt to a new way of training and to settle in a tough league.
“I think he is simply not cut out for English football.”
Arsenal v Chelsea betting tips and predictions.
Confidence will hardly be at its highest when Arsenal and Chelsea meet at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday with both sides looking to get their seasons back on track.
Chelsea to win @ 13/10 with bet365 Abraham to score first @ 15/4 with bet365 Over 3.5 goals @ 13/10 with bet365.
All odds correct at the time of publishing and subject to change.
Arsenal began life under Mikel Arteta in less than spectacular fashion on Boxing Day as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth, although they did show some steel and character to come back from being a goal down.
However Arsenal are closer to the relegation zone than they are the top four, with a run of just one win in 14 matches across all competitions.
On paper, Chelsea's position looks a lot healthier than their London rivals, as they sit eight points above Arsenal and are still holding on to fourth spot.
Everything looked rosy for Frank Lampard's side just over a month ago, but five defeats in seven games has left them glancing nervously over their shoulders at the chasing pack.
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Blues can raise their game for the big occasions.
Chelsea have arguably saved their best form for matches against this season's big hitters, as evidenced by their recent 2-0 win at Tottenham that came right in the middle of their poor run of form.
The Blues have also produced credible performances against Manchester City and Liverpool, even if both matches ended in defeat, while they claimed a crucial Champions League victory over Ajax in Amsterdam - a result that went a long way to securing their place in the knockout stages of that competition.
Only City and Liverpool have a better away record in the Premier League than Chelsea this season and the Blues are priced at 13/10 to claim all three points on Sunday.
Goals galore at the Emirates?
It certainly doesn’t take a genius to work out where the strengths and weaknesses of these two teams lie, both sides are far more comfortable going forward than they are defensively.
Arsenal are the highest scorers in the bottom half of the table but they have only kept one clean sheet in their last 16 games.
Chelsea's defence is also liable to concede and their only shut-out since the beginning of November came recently against Spurs.
The individual attacking talents of both teams should certainly thrive on Sunday and this is not a fixture that usually lacks goals, with 15 being scored across the last four meetings, including Chelsea's 4-1 success in last season's Europa League final.
If you fancy plenty of excitement on Sunday then over 3.5 goals in the match is available at 13/10.
A tale of two strikers.
Both teams are overly reliant on an individual to provide their goals, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having netted almost half of Arsenal's in the Premier League this season and Tammy Abraham contributing exactly one third of Chelsea's.
Indeed it was Aubameyang that grabbed Arsenal's equaliser against Bournemouth last time out and only Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has netted more league goals than the Gabon international this season.
The 30-year-old has not scored in the Premier League at the Emirates since the start of November but, as a 4/5 anytime scorer on Sunday, he still represents Arsenal's biggest goal threat.
After a barnstorming start to the season, the goals have dried up for Abraham of late, and he has failed to score in any of his last four league games.
The England youngster is still only one behind Aubameyang in the goalscoring charts, however, and he could be an interesting option as the first goalscorer on Sunday at 15/4, as each of his last four strikes in the Premier League all broke the deadlock.
We simulated Arsenal vs Chelsea to get a score prediction for FA Cup final.
Arsenal and Chelsea go head-to-head in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, but what will the score be? We used FIFA 20 to get a unique score prediction.
08:00, 1 AUG 2020.
This year's FA Cup final will be a traditional London derby, with Arsenal facing London rivals Chelsea in the biggest domestic cup competition at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
The Gunners have some injury and selection issues ahead of the final, with Gabriel Martinelli, Calum Chambers, Bernd Leno, Pablo Mari and Shkodran Mustafi all due to miss the game through injury, Cedric Soares is cup-tied and there are big doubts over the availability of Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi.
For the Blues, N'Golo Kante is likely to feature after recovering through injury, but Billy Gilmour will miss the game.
So, what lineup will Mikel Arteta and Frank Lampard go with? And, what will the final score be in the FA Cup final on Saturday?
We used FIFA 20 to have a bit of fun and get a score prediction ahead of the upcoming FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea.
Arsenal vs Chelsea FA Cup final score predicted using FIFA 20.
To set up this simulation, we used kick-off mode within FIFA 20 but didn't select a team to control; we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself.
The AI difficulty was set to legendary, with the line-up updated with the latest transfers, injuries and suspensions.
We predict that Arsenal could set up in a 3-4-3/5-3-2 formation, with their lineup as follows: Martinez; Holding, Luiz, Tierney; Maitland-Niles, Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka; Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
We predict that Chelsea could set up in a 3-4-3/5-2-3 formation, with the lineup as follows: Caballero; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rudiger; James, Kovacic, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Giroud, Pulisic.
FIFA 20 predicts that Arsenal will dominate the first-half of this game in terms of possession, with Arteta's side seeing plenty of the ball, but the Gunners had no penetration and Chelsea were left largely untroubled.
In fact, the nerves seemed to get the better of both sides, with the score at half-time still 0-0. Arsenal were the dominant team, with Chelsea yet to show their hand in terms of attacking quality.
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Both Arteta and Lampard made changes on the hour mark, with Lucas Torreira replacing Granit Xhaka and Willian replacing Christian Pulisic, with both side's looking for fresh legs.
In the 70th minute, the big moment of the match came, and unfortunately for Arsenal, it was another horrendous defensive error from David Luiz.
As Olivier Giroud controlled the ball inside the box and headed towards the touchline going nowhere, David Luiz inexplicably put in a very clumsy challenge, with the Frenchman tumbling over inside the box, leaving the referee with little option.
Giroud stepped up and side-footed his effort straight into the bottom right corner, giving Chelsea a vital opening goal in the final.
Despite being a former Gunner, Giroud certainly didn't hold back in his celebration, with his teammates surrounding him to celebrate the goal.
Arsenal responded well and dominated the final stages of the game, but could only create one-half chance of note against the Chelsea rearguard, with Willy Caballero saving an effort from Ainsley Maitland-Niles inside the area.
But Chelsea held firm in the final stages to seal a major trophy win. Frank Lampard's had won the FA Cup, beating their London rivals Arsenal in the process.
And then, the big moment, with Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta lifting the FA Cup trophy with his teammates at Wembley Stadium.
Full-time score: Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea.
Here are the full-time match stats.
The match stats show that Arsenal had more possession and more chances, but ended up on the losing side courtesy of a defensive error from David Luiz.
FIFA 20 predicts that Chelsea will win the FA Cup on Saturday, with this simulation predicting that it will be a low-scoring game that could hinge on a defensive error.
What do you think the score will be? And, what lineups do you think Arsenal and Chelsea will go with at Wembley Stadium?
As always, this is just a bit of fun ahead of what is an important game for Arsenal and Chelsea on Saturday, lets see who lifts the FA Cup in real-life!
Pressure eased on Mikel Arteta as young Arsenal put three past Chelsea in Boxing Day win.
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G o for the young guns - or rather the young Gunners. Mikel Arteta, partly through necessity, partly through design, invested in youth in this bleakest of hours for Arsenal and earned the reward with a victory over Chelsea that was far more precious than the three points. Even if they were desperately needed.
Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe – two 19-year-olds and a 20-year-old with the latter two making their first Premier League starts of the season - were simply outstanding as Arsenal gained their first league win for almost two months, their first at home for almost three months, and relieved a little the almost intolerable pressure on their young manager. The kids played without the fear that has hung around Arsenal. "We grew up with each other, the young players all want to play and have the passion for this club. We want to make the fans happy,” Saka later said.
Suddenly they are not in the relegation mausoleum and Arteta did not look like a dead man walking. The win took them just one place up the Premier League table, to 14th, but it felt like a major step forward.
Defeat was a shocking blow for Chelsea who have lost three of their last four league games which is not good timing, either, for Frank Lampard going into a period of the season when Roman Abramovich often finds the time to watch the team he has invested so heavily in. The form of some expensive recruits, such as Timo Werner, who was substituted at half-time, was shocking and almost as damaging as the result was the poverty of the performance. It is 10 games without a goal for Werner while those around him were strangely flat.
For Arsenal the scorers were Laca, Xhaka, Saka – and what a Christmas cracker for them. In the absence of more experienced, more expensive players – and with others on the bench – Arteta turned to some of his younger players and, again, Kieran Tierney (at 23) should get an honourable mention in that bracket. Also impressive was Granit Xhaka who is such a curious player given he is rightly so often vilified and yet was the game’s dominant midfielder beyond scoring a sumptuous free-kick. And all this after a mindless sending off against Burnley a few short weeks ago.
P ierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on the bench – as was Dani Ceballos and record signing Nicolas Pepe before he eventually came on – and there was no Thomas Partey through injury with David Luiz and Willian suffering from illness while Gabriel is having to self-isolate after coming into close contact with someone testing positive for Covid-19.
It meant there were six changes in all to Arteta’s team and while it looked like a throw of the dice it gained its reward. Make no mistake - and whatever the arguments over Arsenal’s penalty that opened the scoring and a spot-kick miss by Chelsea late on - the result was richly deserved.
Chelsea did not get going until it was over which worried Lampard who was furious on the touchline, not least in sending his team out early for the second-half when he made two substitutions. By then Arsenal were two goals in front and deservedly so with Martinelli and Smith Rowe having already missed chances.
The positivity was rewarded with Xhaka cleverly changing the angle of attack and picking out Tierney who beat Reece James with the full-back, in his desperation to get back, appearing to clip his opponent. The penalty was awarded and Lacazette calmly beat Mendy to give Arsenal the lead and claim his first league goal for nine games.
T hey had hassled and harried and pushed and earned their advantage with Chelsea strangely, worryingly subdued even if – before conceding – Mason Mount had gone close when his free-kick from 25 yards had clipped the outside of the post.
But that was it from Chelsea as, just before half-time, they conceded again as N’Golo Kante - who was especially poor - brought down Saka. Xhaka stood over the ball before whipping a wonderful free-kick beyond Mendy’s grasp and high into the net. It was a remarkable turnaround for Arsenal given the mood. But could they sustain it?
Chelsea will argue about whether Arsenal’s penalty should have been awarded, whether there was enough contact but the scoreline was not deceptive and Arteta’s side again added to it gloriously as they worked the way from their own penalty area with Bellerin breaking forward down the right and picking out Smith Rowe who quickly found Saka. No Chelsea player attempted to close him down – Kante was just jogging – and Saka lofted a cross-shot that beat Mendy, hit his far post and bounced into the net. In 56 minutes Arsenal had scored as many goals as in their last seven league games combined. Saka’s grin suggested it was indeed a cross rather than a shot but he later insisted he meant it.
Bukayo Saka sends a looping shot over the head of Edouard Mendy and into the top corner to make it three. but did he mean it?! 🤔
A fter a Kurt Zouma header went wide it was Arsenal threatening again with Martinelli’s acrobatic over-head kick being held by Mendy and, soon after, the goalkeeper doing well to react and block another shot from the forward after Tierney squared the ball.
Thiago Silva and Tammy Abraham headed over for Chelsea who, in their panic, then delivered a clear chance to Arsenal as Mendy passed the ball straight to Lacazette. The striker shot first time when he could have taken the ball on with Mendy clawing it away. From the corner, Mohamed Elneny met a clearance to hammer a rising shot back off the bar.
Instead it was Chelsea who scored even if it was initially ruled out for offside as Abraham met substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross inside the six-yard area to turn the ball past Bernd Leno. The VAR check showed that he was played onside by Bellerin’s foot and the goal was given. Soon after and Silva headed wide – when he maybe should have scored – before Pablo Mari rashly brought down Mount inside the area only for Jorginho’s casual penalty to be saved by Leno down to his left. It preserved an accurate scoreline.
Chelsea vs Arsenal Prediction.
Chelsea vs Arsenal prediction is here before round 24 of the English Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge in London. Read my match preview to find out the best betting tips and correct score predictions.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Betting Tips.
Chelsea's four-game undefeated streak ended in the last round, as they were unexpectedly beaten by Newcastle away 1-0. Still, their form is fine, as in other 4 of their most recent games they had 3 victories and 1 draw. They are still holding on to their 4th place in the standings, while Leicester in the 3rd spot is 6 points ahead of them. We should see them score some goals this time, as they scored 39 and conceded 30 in the previous 23 rounds.
Arsenal's patchy form this season has put them in the 10th place in the standings, after recording 6 wins, 11 draws and 6 defeats. They now have 29 points, and since Crystal Palace in the 9th place is just one point ahead of them they could climb higher if they manage to find their rhythm. In the previous rounds, they netted 30 while allowing 32 goals, so I expect them to score again in this clash.
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