{"id":1279,"date":"2025-08-06T21:22:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T19:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/2025\/08\/06\/arsenal-stumble-3-2-at-emirates-against-villarreal-haunted-by-former-signing-nicolas-pepe\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T21:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T19:25:18","slug":"arsenal-stumble-3-2-at-emirates-against-villarreal-haunted-by-former-signing-nicolas-pepe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/2025\/08\/06\/arsenal-stumble-3-2-at-emirates-against-villarreal-haunted-by-former-signing-nicolas-pepe\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Stumble 3-2 at Emirates Against Villarreal, Haunted by Former Signing Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal\u2019s opening match at the Emirates Stadium this season ended in a disheartening 3-2 defeat to Villarreal. The game was notably marked by the return of former Arsenal winger Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9, who has sought to revive his career since transferring to Villarreal last summer. P\u00e9p\u00e9, one of Arsenal\u2019s most expensive and least successful signings, was quick to impact, scoring just 17 minutes into the game by capitalizing on a rebound following a shot from Pape Gueye that struck the post. His goal was a composed finish from close range, and he notably abstained from celebrating out of respect.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Arsenal creating several chances, Villarreal doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when Etta Eyong was on hand to follow up after David Raya initially saved a shot from Gerard Moreno. Arsenal were quick to respond, with Christian N\u00f8rgaard securing his first goal for the club with a precise header at the far post. The Danish midfielder has impressed throughout the summer following his \u00a310 million move from Brentford, which could rise to \u00a315 million.<\/p>\n<p>At halftime, Mikel Arteta made just two substitutions, introducing Mart\u00edn Zubimendi and Cristhian Mosquera for N\u00f8rgaard and Ben White, respectively, prioritizing game minutes as the Premier League season approaches.<\/p>\n<p>The second half saw Villarreal regain a two-goal advantage, with Arnaut Danjuma finishing a swift breakaway with composure, delivering a shot past Raya despite pressure from Mosquera. Arsenal staged a response once more, with teenage striker Max Dowman earning a penalty after being fouled in the box. Martin \u00d8degaard converted from the spot with 16 minutes remaining, narrowing the deficit, but Arsenal could not find a third goal.<\/p>\n<p>This encouraging but ultimately frustrating performance highlighted both promising individual displays and areas for improvement as Arsenal look to refine their squad ahead of the domestic campaign.<\/p>\n<h2>Player Ratings (Out of 10)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>GK: David Raya 6.2<\/li>\n<li>RB: Ben White 6.2<\/li>\n<li>CB: William Saliba 6.0<\/li>\n<li>CB: Jakub Kiwior 5.9<\/li>\n<li>LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly 6.6<\/li>\n<li>CM: Ethan Nwaneri 7.2<\/li>\n<li>CM: Christian N\u00f8rgaard 7.6<\/li>\n<li>CM: Mikel Merino 6.9<\/li>\n<li>RW: Bukayo Saka 6.6<\/li>\n<li>ST: Viktor Gy\u00f6keres 6.7<\/li>\n<li>LW: Gabriel Martinelli 7.2<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Mart\u00edn Zubimendi (46\u2019 for N\u00f8rgaard) 6.7<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Cristhian Mosquera (46\u2019 for White) 6.9<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Kepa Arrizabalaga (62\u2019 for Raya) 6.0<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es (62\u2019 for Kiwior) 6.5<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Declan Rice (62\u2019 for Nwaneri) 6.4<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Jurrien Timber (62\u2019 for Saliba) 6.2<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Martin \u00d8degaard (63\u2019 for Gy\u00f6keres) 7.4<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Max Dowman (63\u2019 for Saka) 7.0<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Oleksandr Zincheko (77\u2019 for Lewis-Skelly) 5.9<\/li>\n<li>SUB: Noni Madueke (77\u2019 for Martinelli) 5.9<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal lose 3-2 to Villarreal at Emirates; former signing Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 scores on return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[606,59,178,607,605],"class_list":["post-1279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","tag-christian-norgaard","tag-featured","tag-friendly","tag-martin-odegaard","tag-nicolas-pepe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1280,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions\/1280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}