Nicolas Pepe admits he only learned he would start for Arsenal against Manchester United last night on the morning of the game.

Pepe scored one and created the other in the 2-0 win.

He told RMC: "I had a discussion with the coach (Mikel Arteta) this morning and he told me I was going to start and asked if I felt ready and stuff like that.

"I told him I felt ready. I showed tonight that I was ready.

"As well, today it is my mother's birthday, I score today, so it is only positive for me and the team."

Pepe also revealed that Mikel Arteta's use of video analysis has helped them grasp his new system as they aim to push on for the Premier League top four.

He added: "This one feels a lot better. We scored twice, we conceded zero goals. This will really do a lot for everyone's confidence levels.

"We are doing a lot, a lot of video during training in order to perform well during the match. Today we performed well, we were solid defensively, we were good going forward.

“It is all new for us. A new system, new instructions. We are adapting quickly.

"That has been seen in the last three matches, even though we did not win, we were very good, we were just missing the victory, which we were able to do tonight. We need to continue like this.

“Now we have to go on a run to get to this top 4 that we need to do."