Gabriel Martinelli has enjoyed the beginnings of a resurgence at Arsenal despite having looked like his time had once run out under Mikel Arteta.
The 20-year-old forward had enjoyed just 37 minutes of Premier League action since his hand in the Gunners' miserable opening start to the campaign but he's now staked his biggest claim yet for a first start of the season.
However, while Martinelli has seemingly put himself in contention for a wildcard feature against Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United, the Brazilian's latest breakthrough has opened an inquiry into the future of Nicolas Pepe.
Despite having been handed far more game time than his counterpart, Arsenal's 26-year-old winger from Lille, who that cost the north London side an eye-watering £72 million, has been unable to contend with Martinelli's uplift.
Tom Canton and Bailey Keogh spoke live on The Arsenal Way to delve into power rankings of Pepe and Martinelli as the former seemingly edges closer to validating Edu's biggest transfer mistake once and for all.
Keogh kickstarted proceedings by outlining how the Ivorian's omission from a cameo display against Newcastle shines a light on Arteta's stance over Martinelli's revitalised role in the squad.
"It is very, very, telling that Martinelli was the given the nod seeing as usually it'd be Pepe who'd come on - maybe Martinelli has been impressing in training," he began.
"Martinelli has that mentality where he can be more of an impact substitution because he just wants to impress; his pressing is different and so is his energy. He repaid his faith.
"It is an interesting call from Arteta. It shows that he doesn't care about the price tags, he cares about the team."
Keogh added by noting how Martinelli has overtaken Pepe in the pecking order at London Colney despite the varying values in todays climate; the former comes in at £19.8 million compared to the latter at £31.5 million, as per Transfermarkt.
"Martinelli has put himself over Pepe and I worry for Pepe because how is he going to get back in the side? Martinelli is ahead of him in the pecking order," he said.
"I think Martinelli should stay on the wing, not as a striker just yet. I see him as a striker one day. The potential is there but he's still a bit young, looks a bit weak, he needs to find his body then he can move over to the striker position.
"He reminds me of Theo Walcott. He has got the striker qualities but has he got the build to play in that position."
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