Nicolas Pepe has returned to Arsenal from Ivory Coast international duty sparking a huge scare about his fitness after a strange statement from the Ivorian Coastians.

They claimed that he had himself admitted he was carrying an injury and would subsequently miss their friendly games against Benin and Tunisia, but it turns out that it was just a precaution, with Pepe just preferring to work on his fitness at Arsenal rather than away on international duty.

Our new forward has been a first team starter for our last two games against Liverpool and Sp*rs, and was a sub in the first two games against Newcastle and Burnley. He has had a very good start to the season, but the general feeling is, he is still not 100% and that he will burst onto the scene with a bang once fully fit and two weeks at Arsenal in full training will only speed things up for him.

Pepe was eased into things after a very hectic summer with his country ahead of his super soaraway record-breaking move to Arsenal from French club Lille and is already proving to be one of the signings of the season despite it only being four games old.