Why Nicolas Pepe may need to change to make Arsenal fans' front three dream come true

The ink had barely dried on Nicolas Pepe's Arsenal contract before the comparisons began.  Pepe's arrival at the Emirates Stadium saw the Ivorian team up with both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, the Gabonese-French partnership which Gunners fans had taken to their hearts over the previous 18 months.  In some quarters it might have been seen as foolish to break up such a potent duo, and one which - despite Arsenal's other faults - the club and fans could always rely on to find the net with regularity.  But football fans always want shiny new players, especially £72million attackers with a YouTube highlights reel like Pepe's, and it helped that the Gunners were seen to have beaten their Premier League rivals to the 24-year-old.  And so the front two became a front three, and when you talk about front threes in English football right now you will be inevitably think about the one that plays on Merseyside and just lifted the Champions League.  Aubameyang himself compared Arsenal's attackers to Liverpool's Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah before the Gunners' clash with the Reds at Anfield last month.   “I see a lot of similarities," he said .  “Pepe and me, we are quick players like Mane and Salah, while Laca is a player who can keep the ball and is really good with his feet like Firmino. So yes, we can say we are close enough.”  So given that he plays off the right, that would make Pepe the Salah of this equation.  Except right now he's no Salah.   That's not a bad thing of course, all footballers are different. But in terms of the makeup of the front three - with the trio starting a game together for the first time in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham - it means that Pepe might have to alter his game to be a little bit more like the Egyptian.  There is already debate over whether playing the trio together helps Aubameyang - the Mane of the piece - who is forced to drift in from the left to take up central positions as opposed to starting in them as he'd no doubt prefer.  The wisdom of switching the position of last season's joint-Premier League Golden Boot winner can be debated, and it should be noted that only one of Aubameyang's three goals this season came when Lacazette and Pepe were also on the pitch.  But the former Dortmund man will get you goals wherever you play him, while Lacazette will also be a constant menace in the six-yard box as he showed against Tottenham.  That could leave Pepe a little isolated if he keeps doing what he's been doing.   The Ivorian's first touch and finishing have been criticised following his two 90 minute displays for the Gunners so far - the loss at Liverpool and the draw at Tottenham.  And while his touch can certainly improve and surely will as he adapts to the Premier League, he can also help himself when it comes to his finishing simply by getting into better positions.   As seen in the above heatmaps both for last season at Lille and his early games at Arsenal , Pep

Nicolas Pepe,Alexandre Lacazette,Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,Arsenal FC,