Mikel Arteta helped mould Sane and Sterling into world-class wingers and could do same with Pepe, says Rio Ferdinand

RIO FERDINAND watched Mikel Arteta help Pep Guardiola turn Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane into wing wizards.

And the Manchester United legend thinks Nicolas Pepe is already benefiting from working under the Spaniard after he scored in tonight's 2-0 win.

Arsenal's record signing, 24, started alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette for the first time under Arteta.

And Ferdinand was impressed with what he saw from the £72million ace after a rocky start to his Emirates career.

The BT Sport pundit said: "There are new ideas, maybe he has freshened the place up. Maybe they lost belief under the previous manager.

"I’ve not seen Ozil smile like that in about 18 months. He’s enjoying playing, he’s enjoying going to training.

ARSENAL NEWS LIVE: Follow for all the latest on the Gunners

"Pepe – this kid here, massive signing, hasn’t produced. Today he looked like a new player and that comes from confidence. There must have been conversations behind closed doors where he has said ‘you are my guy’.

"It’s documented how much impact Arteta had on Sane, Sterling, young wingers. And Pepe falls into that category. Can he improve?"

Arsenal out-ran United all over the field and David Luiz took a pop at former boss Unai Emery by claiming the squad were not fit enough for this time of year.

He explained: "It was great, we did a great first half and were mature in the second half. We have to be honest and humble to admit that physically we are not ready.

"When physically you are not there you have to put your heart and this team is in a moment to change a lot of things.

"It’s beautiful to see the kids start to understand the behaviour and the commitment you need every single day to achieve big things. We showed that and we’re going to do big things in the future, but step by step."