Arsenal: Reiss Nelson must embrace uphill battle

This week, Reiss Nelson spoke about the wealth of attacking talent currently in the Arsenal squad. If he is to earn significant minutes throughout the season, he must embrace this uphill battle.

Reiss Nelson started Arsenal’s season-opening Premier League game on Sunday afternoon, a hard-earned but ultimately rewarding 1-0 victory over Newcastle United. He was told that he would be starting on the Wednesday beforehand, Unai Emery asking him to mentally prepare in the days leading up to the match, but for Nelson, this is just another step in what he has always wanted to achieve: becoming a regular starter for the club he joined as a nine-year-old.

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The winger has expressed his unapologetic ambition of becoming a regular starter at the Emirates. He is bullish on his talent and high in his expectations, neither of which are necessarily bad things.

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But amid concerns that starting opportunities would be limited last summer, he was loaned out to Hoffenheim for the season, where endured a turbulent campaign, filled with several great moments, especially early on, but ultimately falling out of the first-team picture as injuries struck.

This, then, was a significant step forward, a sign that Emery is wanting and willing to trust Nelson in significant matches, and that there will be some excellent opportunities for the 19-year-old to feature heavily. But to become a regular, Nelson still faces an uphill challenge, as he himself admitted this week:

"“I just want to take things as they come. I need to be prepared all the time for whenever I get the call-up because I know it’s not guaranteed I’m going to be starting week in, week out with the team-mates we have. We have Aubameyang, Pepe, Lacazette. They are great stars and I’m still only young so I need to sit back and, when I get my chance, take it.”"

This is the reason why Eddie Nketiah was loaned out to Leeds for the season. Arsenal are extremely strong in the front three positions, especially at centre-forward. Handing starting chances to these young, burgeoning talents, no matter how promising they may seem, is always going to be difficult when you have three world-class attackers in your midst.

For Nelson, then, although Sunday was a significant step in the right direction, just as it has been for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi before him, the hard yards still stretch out before him like a long, winding, unending road, veering off into the desert. To actually break into the first-team rotation when such strong players are playing in your position is a huge challenge.

Nevertheless, it is a challenge that Nelson must embrace. If he is to deliver on his talent, which is substantial, he needs to force his way into the team, one way or another. The first task is to outmanoeuvre Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was atrociously wasteful for every bit as Nelson was effective at the weekend. If Nelson can become the fourth option, he has a chance to play 20-plus league games, which could be a major step in his career.

What comes of Nelson and his prestigious ability this season, remains to be seen. But if he is to make the most himself, as he has publicly stated is his intention, he must embrace — and ultimately win — the insatiable battle for minutes.