A substitute appearance lasting 20 minutes plus injury time and 10 largely unremarkable touches may not seem like much, but in them were encapsulated Arsenal’s reasons for optimism. In time, Nicolas Pépé will script his own narrative and will be judged on those terms but, for now, his value is largely symbolic. The £72m record signing is the totem for this new age for Arsenal. His arrival from the bench was greeted with huge roar from the Arsenal fans gathered high in the Leazes End and his presence was enough to transform an essentially workaday Arsenal win into something of potentially far greater significance.
For 58 minutes at a wet and gently mutinous St James’ Park, Arsenal perhaps wondered whether the optimism of deadline day had been justified.
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