Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Thursday match against Norwegian club Molde in the Europa League, Arteta was asked about Pepe’s future after receiving his marching orders for a headbutt in Sunday’s 0-0 Premier League draw with Leeds United.
Pepe, 25, joined the Gunners from French club Lille prior to the 2019-20 season, where he netted eight goals in all competitions, arguably under-delivering on their investment, while his latest indiscretion hardly helps matters.
“No, it’s absolutely not,” Arteta said when asked if it was the end of his Arsenal career. “It’s not about that and I don’t like that type of statement.
“I will give Nico my full support all the time. He knows where he has to improve and we all know his qualities. He has some responsibility, I have a lot of responsibility, which is to get the best out of him and get the best position for him, the best areas where he can do what he can do with the ball. I cannot fault his effort at all.
“You see the way he strives for the team, the way he’s working, it’s been the best since he’s been at the club. But there have been some aspects he can do better in because he has the ability.
“That’s where I’m going to put the pressure on him to deliver what he can do. To say it’s a threat for him to finish his career… it’s not at all like that.”
Three English clubs will be in action in the Europa League on Thursday, with Tottenham set to be boosted by the availability of Matt Doherty, having overcome COVID-19, when they host Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets.
Spurs will be without Belgian defender Toby Alderweireld due to a muscle injury which will keep him out for “two to four weeks” while Erik Lamela is unavailable too.
Leicester City have a tricky away assignment against Portuguese club Sporting Braga and they won’t be boosted by Ricardo Pereira’s return yet despite playing just under an hour for the development squad as he recovers from an ACL injury.
The match will also come too soon for Timothy Castagne (hamstring), Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) and Caglar Soyuncu (adductor) as the Foxes look to bounce back from Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Liverpool.