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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Malik Ouzia

Nicolas Pepe makes Arsenal debut: £72m signing comes off the bench vs Newcastle

Nicolas Pepe has made his Arsenal debut after coming off the bench in the Gunners' Premier League opener against Newcastle United.

The £72million summer signing was introduced midway through the second half in place of youngster Reiss Nelson, who had been given the chance to impress after an excellent preseason campaign.

Minutes earlier, Unai Emery had also handed a debut to Real Madrid loanee Dani Ceballos, having chosen to start without any of his new arrivals, with David Luiz and Gabriel Martinelli also on the bench and Kieran Tierney not fit enough to be involved.

After a drab opening 45 minutes of few chances, the Gunners had taken the lead through last year’s Golden Boot winner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who lifted home to open his account for the season after a nice ball from right-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

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