Arsenal’s interim manager Freddie Ljungberg greeted Nicolas Pepe warmly as the winger left the pitch after scoring against West Ham.
The Gunners’ nine-match winless streak ended as they secured a 3-1 victory over the Hammers at the London Stadium on Monday night.
Angelo Ogbonna gave the home side a deserved first half-lead, but Arsenal came out with a renewed purpose for the second period and started to flex their attacking muscles.
Gabriel Martinelli equalised with a neat finish on the hour mark and Pepe put the visitors in front six minutes later, cutting in from the right-hand side before firing an unstoppable shot past David Martin in the West Ham net.
Arsenal’s record signing then turned provider, dinking a lovely pass through to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who rounded off the scoring to secure Ljungberg’s first three points at the helm.
? We needed that tonight!
? 1-3 ? (FT)#WHUARS
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 9, 2019
Pepe was embraced by his manager after being substituted late on, with the Ivorian rightly acknowledged for the best performance of his Arsenal career to date.
Check out the heartwarming moment between Pepe and Ljungberg below:
CONFIDENCE.#WHUARS pic.twitter.com/yY9171jNn9
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 10, 2019
This is an absolutely beautiful moment…?
With Ljungberg formerly playing the position Pépé plays it will fill him with such confidence to receive that from Freddie…You love to see it! pic.twitter.com/QixY2C6gCQ
— ???¹? (@ArsenalHQ19) December 9, 2019
(Pictures courtesy of Sky Sports)
