Arsenal: Bukayo Saka oozing with one intangible Reiss Nelson can’t find

Arsenal let the kids play against Forest, but the carryover is creating a rivalry between Bukayo Saka and Reiss Nelson, with the former owning one key edge.

Arsenal could probably have let their youth ranks fill in the attack in the offseason, with Reiss Nelson and Bukayo Saka trusted to take the reigns, but instead, they brought in Nicolas Pepe, leaving the two youngsters to make up significant ground.

But when Alexandre Lacazette went down, and the front three essentially broke, the two youngsters had their chance, and the rivalry was built, almost by default. We had already seen plenty of Reiss Nelson, and while he hadn’t done a lot to put a clamp on the job, Saka was doing all he could in the early goings of midweek competitions.

Now, it’s a straight-up duel for one position, and the match against Manchester United will give us an idea of who is going to win out.

Against Aston Villa, Bukayo Saka got the nod, and from what I was seeing, I loved what he brought and didn’t quite understand why he was the one to give way at half instead of some of the other under-performers. Obviously it worked out, with Calum Chambers saving the day as the sub, but still, Saka was mid-proving himself.

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Between the two of them, we have a lot to be excited about, but it’s Saka that I think still holds the edge over the more experienced Nelson, and it’s because of one category, a category that Nelson was supposed to be much better in—dynamism.

Nelson has had trouble with that up until the Nottingham Forest match. He hasn’t been strong on then ball, he hasn’t been dribbling, he really hasn’t been passing well. He’s just been a clogged fount of potential begging to be unclogged. He looks almost reserved.

Saka, however, is the opposite. If anything, his overeagerness makes him look raw at times, but the clear skill is what sets him apart. And in a match where we need someone to push the envelope, and to really lay on the gas petal, I have to believe that Saka is the preferred starter over Nelson, despite what we saw against Forest.

We know that Nelson has the capability to be dynamic, we’ve seen it before, but with how much competition there is for places, Saka is winning the initial race, but the season is long and Nelson is damn good.