Arsenal: Parking next to Nicolas Pepe a great place for Reiss Nelson

Arsenal may have to unfairly shift Reiss Nelson out of the starting XI, but sitting behind Nicolas Pepe is hardly a bad place to be.

I’m a big proponent of not taking a player out of the starting XI until he loses his job or until someone proves that they are better for the job through other competitions. And for the most part, that’s how Unai Emery’s time at Arsenal has been. He makes decisions based on merit.

But there are exceptions to this rule, and with the arrival of Nicolas Pepe, we might be preparing to make another exception.

Reiss Nelson started the match against Newcastle, and while he wasn’t perfect, and didn’t inject the kind of spark that could turn the match around, he was a positive presence on the pitch and shouldn’t be losing his job over it.

Even though he might. Pepe looks ready, he looks healthy, and I have to believe that with how much we spent on him (and are continuing to spend), that we want to start getting a return on that investment.

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Which seems a bit unfair to Nelson, but at the end of the day, sitting behind Pepe is hardly a bad place for Nelson to be. For starters, competition is great for players to grow and improve. And Nelson knew this wouldn’t be easy anyway.

More than that though, it’s not like Pepe is a brick wall, and it’s not like Emery chooses favorites. Pepe is going to struggle, he isn’t going to last the full 90 in most matches and there are going to be times when we need variety, confidence, youthful exuberance, etc.

Nelson can consistently breathe down the back of Pepe, keeping the pressure on him while using substitute appearances and midweek competitions to prove his own merit, which all players have to do at some point anyway.

I wish we could just live off of the Arsenal academy, but that’s not always realistic and Pepe is the solution that the academy wasn’t able to provide yet.

Again though, Emery is as just as they come. He is going to go with the hot foot and if Nelson can provide it, he will absolutely have the chance to keep Pepe on the bench, in the backseat.

The point is, it’s a good situation for both of them to be in. And it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Nelson start again against Burnley.