Topics: UEFA Europa League, Arsenal, Vitoria Guimaraes, Nicolas Pepe
The Ivory Coast footballer stepped in from the bench to keep Arsenal's perfect record in the UEFA Europa League.

Arsenal seemed to be en route to an embarrassing UEFA Europa League loss at home...but Nicolás Pepé avoided it with two well-placed free kicks.

The Ivory Coast footballer, who has been harshly criticized for failing to deliver as the team's record signing, came in from the bench with 15 minutes left in the game to show why Arsenal paid Lille quite a bit of cash this summer. He also managed to keep Arsenal's perfect record in the competition, and to top it all off, he kept the criticism away from Unai Emery at least for a few hours.

Pepé's first goal came with ten minutes left in the game, and while the goalkeeper could have done a bit more to keep the ball from hitting the back of the net, Pepé's well-placed shot gave Arsenal the boost they needed to fight for the win (Image might be geo-restricted).

Just when the game seemed to be headed to end in a draw, Pepé stepped up to take one more free kick. The Ivorian drilled this one into the top right hand corner of Miguel Silva's net and kicked off all celebrations inside Emirates Stadium. (Image might be geo-restricted).

One more win on Matchday 4 could seal Arsenal's spot in the next round, but for the moment, let's give Gunners' fans a chance to rejoice on such a splendid comeback.