Emery: Pepe must adapt quickly at Arsenal

Nicolas Pepe is yet to justify his hefty price tag at Arsenal and Unai Emery is working closely with the former Lille star.

Nicolas Pepe has not scored for Arsenal this season despite starting three matches.

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery said Nicolas Pepe still needs to adapt to the Premier League following a slow start to life in England.

Pepe joined Arsenal in a club-record £72million transfer from Ligue 1 outfit Lille in August and the Ivory Coast forward is yet to justify his price tag.

The 24-year-old has made five Premier League appearances, starting three without scoring a goal for Arsenal, which drew 2-2 at Watford last time out.

Preparing for Sunday's clash against Aston Villa, Emery said: "He needs to adapt.

"He is playing well but progressively we know there is going to be more from him to help us and I want him to take the last step quickly in adapting for us.

"We are working with him - after training we are watching individual videos with him.

"He is playing well but also we need in our organisation to be strong with every player to improve a lot."

READ |  Ronaldo: People are stupid and talk too much

Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead in its Premier League draw way to Watford before responding with a 3-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Gunners are 10th in the Premier League, already seven points adrift of leaders Liverpool.

Emery, whose Arsenal finished fifth in his first season at the Emirates Stadium last term, added: "When we are winning, I stay calm, when we are losing, I stay calm.

"I want to win more than lose and really I want to be consistent in our way and in our steps ahead. We know each match is very important because we have a lot of supporters in London, England and also worldwide.

"We know our responsibility and we know we want to give them very good moments, we want to give them special moments and feel connected with us because it is not only how we can win, it is also how we can play and how we can give them our energy, our capacity, our skills and enjoy each match with us."

Arsenal also provided an update on injured forward Alexandre Lacazette, who is recovering from a left ankle problem and is likely to return in October, while Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney have stepped up their comebacks.