ROSS BARKLEY scored a brace while two other ex-English-based players were on target in Nice’s 6-1 win over Montpellier.
The victory got them back on track following a testing run of results since the season resumed after the World Cup.
Arsenal flop Nicolas Pepe got the scoring underway when he clinically swept home his seventh goal of his loan spell after 15 minutes.
Khephren Thuram doubled the lead just before the interval and then Pepe helped himself to his second thanks to a kind deflection.
Ex-Wigan striker Andy Delort, part of a treble substitution with Barkley, took just eight minutes before expertly volleying home Nice’s fourth.
Although he decided against celebrating against Montpellier, where he spent four years.
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The visitors made it 4-1 as the game entered the final 10 minutes before Barkley took centre stage.
Firstly, the England international turned and finished superbly to restore Nice’s four-goal advantage.
And then three minutes later he arrived unmarked to coolly slot home his second and Nice’s sixth.
Barkley endured a testing start to life in France, but he’s now starting to find his feet.
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That’s three goals in as many matches after he also scored in defeat at Rennes.
But the midfielder has started six Ligue 1 games all season, so he’ll be hoping his purple patch will lead to him being picked from the off more regularly.
Nice are next in action when they travel to Reims on Sunday.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
