Arsenal made a flying start to the 2019/2020 Premier League season with victories in their first two games against Newcastle United and Burnley.
Despite losing to Liverpool in gameweek three coupled with draws against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United they went into the October international break just a point behind reigning champions Manchester City.
Fast forward a few months and Gunners are without a manager following the sacking of Unai Emery almost three weeks ago and find themselves seven points off London rivals Chelsea in the race for a Champions League spot.
If not for the goals of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal's position in the table would be looking a lot more bleak.
However, the club's leading scorer is not the north London outfit's most valuable player in the Premier League so far this season.
That honour goes to record signing Nicolas Pepe who scored his first goal from open play in the 3-1 win over West Ham United earlier in the month as well as weighing in with one further goal as well as two assists in 15 appearances.
The CIES Football Observatory state they have: "Developed a property algorithm to assess the performance of footballers from the exclusive data produced by the leading sports company OptaPro.
"Issue number 278 of the Weekly Post presents the MVP per big-5 league club, as well as the top values for each of the six areas of the game analysed. Only players fielded for at least nine (MVPs) and respectively six (per domain) full domestic league matches are included.
"The MVPs are footballers whose performance had the biggest influence in their teams’ results."
Pepe being named as Arsenal's MVP in the Premier League this season might come as a surprise to many as the Ivory Coast has only shown glimpses of his best form.
But the fact he's had the biggest influence on the Gunners' results without hitting the heights of his brilliant season with Lille last term can only mean there's plenty more to come from the £72m signing.
The other Arsenal who could have in the running for the MVP award is goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Clean sheets have been hard to come by for the German this season - keeping just two in 17 Premier League appearances - but tops the list for most saves across the entire division with 73.
Whilst Pepe is having a big influence, Aubameyang's goals being crucial to keeping the Gunners in the picture for a top-four spot, it's also clear that Leno's saves have been equally just as important.
