Mikel Arteta reveals the message Nicolas Pepe sent him at 3am the night before Wolves game

Mikel Arteta revealed Nicolas Pepe messaged him in the early hours of Thursday morning confirming he wanted to be part of the Arsenal squad against Wolves, despite the birth of his son less than 24 hours before kick-off.

The Ivory Coast international has featured only sporadically for the Gunners this season and is yet to come anywhere near to justifying the £72million the north London club shelled out when they made him their record signing two-and-a-half years ago.

Pepe has, however, returned from his recent stint at the Africa Cup of Nations with a different attitude, according to his manager and his determination to be a part of the team which eventually battled to a priceless win last night summed up the spirit within the current squad.

Arteta revealed: ‘Pepe, he had a baby last night. At 2-3am he text me and said yeah, I want to come and help the team.

‘So this thing happened and it isn’t a coincidence, it’s because the togetherness and unity is there.’

The 26-year-old impressed during a brief cameo against Brentford last weekend and came off the bench to make a telling impact against Wolves last night, scoring his first Premier League goal of the campaign to sqaure the match, before providing Alexandre Lacazette with the chance to claim all three points deep in injury-time.

I told you last week, I see a different Nico,’ said Arteta afterwards. ‘I don’t know, it’s his energy, his happiness, his all-round play, how he’s training, I was convinced that he could come in and do something for the team.

‘He’s on the right path and when you’re able to do that and contribute to the team, you’re going to get more minutes.

‘The more minutes you have, you need to make the most out of them in training every single day and