5 current Arsenal players who lack consistency

#3 Martin Odegaard

Martin Odegaard has been tasked with creating goal scoring chances for Arsenal

Arsenal were fairly impressed with Real Madrid loanee Martin Odegaard last season after his brief six-month spell. He brought in some amount of Mesut Ozil-like creativity to the team, but also brought the tenacity to fight when the team was out of possession.

However, one thing that Arsenal fans fear is that the common link between Ozil and their new No.8 could be their inconsistency to replicate their performances. Odegaard has been brought in to unlock opposition defenses and play between the lines with the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.

It's painful that in one game we see glimpses of his true potential and the next, he is struggling. The Norwegian was absolutely spot on with his passes and final third vision against Tottenham Hotspur, but against Brighton and Crystal Palace, it felt like he ran out of ideas.

The No.8 needs to enable his team to tackle the compact shape of such teams, but he is inconsistent with what he has primarily been brought in for. Odegaard's free-kick against Burnley single-handedly won the game for Arsenal. But the Norway captain has to move on from his wonderful strike and concentrate on performing consistently.

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#2 Granit Xhaka

Granit Xhaka is currently recovering from an injury

From being on the verge of signing for Roma, to starting games for Arsenal and even rumored to be negotiating an extension, Granit Xhaka has had an eventful campaign. The midfielder has three sides to him; as cliche as it may sound, the good, the bad and the ugly.

It would have been easy if the world had only seen his bad and ugly version to dismiss him. But Xhaka has this habit of turning really good in certain games which only makes the Arsenal faithful feel more miserable. Here is a man capable of taking charge of the midfield, controlling the tempo of the game, but too reckless, too error prone and too indecisive at times as well.

Mikel Arteta likes Xhaka because he has worked with Fernandinho at Manchester City. The Brazilian has the credentials to give a masterclass on playing in defensive midfield, breaking attacks and committing tactical fouls. Xhaka could have been Arsenal's very own Fernandinho, but he does not seem interested.

The sporadic Arsenal captain's lack of awareness and a tendency to rely on back passes often builds unnecessary pressure on himself and his team-mates. Sure on his day he can deliver cutting edge forward passes and even score a free-kick with his left-foot, but how many of these days has he had at Arsenal?

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#1 Nicolas Pepe

Pepe is finding it hard to justify his £72m price tag

On his day from his preferred right wing, Nicolas Pepe can take defenders for a ride. He can embarrass them with his tricks, run away with the ball and beat the goalkeeper at will. However, the aforementioned days have been few and far between in the Arsenal shirt.

There are plenty of flashes of his talent and his skills over the course of 90 mins but it is his habit to leave a lot to be desired by the end of it. Lots of dropping shoulders and attempts at dribbles are all good to watch, but eventually if you end up making a back pass, or giving the ball away, it's wasteful.

Pepe has to be more direct and play on the half turn with greater sharpness and the said urgency has been missing in his game. The £72 million price tag has so far proven a curse for the Ivorian. In his first Premier League season, he scored five goals and provided one assist. Last season, he scored 10 and assisted one for Arsenal.

He gets the odd run of three or four games where he scores and then goes to rest. Being unpredictable is good, but only as long as you are unpredictable for the opposition and not for your own team. Every time the winger gives a good performance, the Arsenal boss is quick to assert in post-match interviews that he needs to be consistent. That speaks volumes about the reputation he has forged at the Emirates.