Having arrived in a club-record deal from Lille in the summer, Arsenal may have expected Nicolas Pepe to have scored more than just the five goals by now. The Ivory Coast international was initially eased into Premier League action, only starting his first match in the competition in his side's third game.

Since then, things have been a bit of a struggle for the winger, with inconsistency defining his debut campaign at the Emirates. He's undoubtedly had his standout moments in a Gunners shirt, with his two late free-kicks against Vitoria in the Europa League taking the cake. But in and amongst that, he's had his difficult moments too - not least his particularly disappointing display against Chelsea on Tuesday night.

Whilst David Luiz's sending off in the first-half played a big part in just how attacking the former Lille man could be for the rest of the game, whenever he did have his opportunities to lead a counter-attack, or provide a moment of magic, he went missing.

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As per Sofascore, he lost possession a staggering 21 times (the most of any Arsenal player), failed to complete any of his seven attempted crosses, and had no shots whatsoever.

But whilst Pepe should shoulder some of the responsibility - after all, it's not like Mikel Arteta is the one controlling where his crosses end up - the Gunners head coach should also carry some of the burden for the Ivorian's lacklustre performances. In having his right-back come in-field a lot more to help dominate the midfield battle (it was Ainsley Maitland-Niles in recent weeks and Hector Bellerin on Tuesday), Pepe has no-one to provide him with an overlap.

Too often, the winger ran into a Chelsea cul-de-sac, with one moment seeing him admirably win a free-kick after beating three players by the touch-line with a neat Cruyff turn. But those moments of trickery shouldn't be expected from him every time he receives possession. At the moment, the Gunners simply hand him the ball and expect him to beat several players to create something for others.

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His total of six attempted dribbles was double that of the next highest Arsenal player, and puts into perspective the kind of unfair reliance Arteta is putting on him. Changing things up by allowing the full-back to go on the outside so the opposition have to think twice about doubling up on him, could bring rich rewards. It was quite telling that on Tuesday night, Bellerin only attempted two crosses and two dribbles, namely because he wasn't in a position to do so.

So whilst the Gunners head coach can rightly be satisfied with his side claiming a draw after going down to ten-men, he should start thinking about how to get the best out of Pepe.

Meanwhile, Arsenal fans have lauded this man as the "future Tony Adams" after his performance against Chelsea.