Nicolas Pepe has admitted to being frustrated with his role at Arsenal.
Much was expected from the Gunners ' £72m record signing in his second season in English football, but has so far failed to nail down a regular place in the Premier League team under manager Mikel Arteta.
Of Pepe 's seven appearances in the top-flight of English football this campaign, all but one has been as a substitute with Arteta preferring summer arrival Willian on the right-hand side of a front three alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
Against Aston Villa at the weekend, Pepe was given less than half an hour to change things - to no avail - taking his number of minutes of Premier League action this season to 227 (via transfermarkt).
It's a situation in which the 25-year-old is, understandably, not so happy about.
However, he's opened up on his plans to get more playing time under Arteta which, if successful, could lead to Willian being replaced in the Gunners' forward line.
"My goal is to play more. Have a little more playing time," Pepe told Canal Plus as per the Metro. "A player who plays is happy. For me, I would like to play a little more to find a smile again.
"He [Arteta] wants me to be 100 percent focused during the 90 minutes of the match.
"Afterwards, I see during training that I will be a substitute the following weekend. But the coach speaks to me, he also has assistants who are there for that.
"But it is frustrating for any player to be on the bench.
"The coach makes his choices. It's up to me to show him that I don't have that role."
It's a different story for Pepe when it comes to the Europa League and even the Carabao Cup.
So far he's been an ever-present in both of those competitions and scored in recent wins over Dundalk and Molde to leave the Gunners on the brink of reaching the knockout phase in Europe.
Arsenal return to Premier League action a week on Sunday with a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United and it remains to be seen if Arteta hands Pepe a rare start.
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