Arsenal: Reiss Nelson not a typical winger

Reiss Nelson has impressed in his last two outings for Arsenal. The winger plays in a manner that looks like a natural wide player but it has more nuance than the usual style of the position.

When I first saw Reiss Nelson play for the Arsenal first team, I knew almost nothing about him. His name was bandied about as a potential future senior player, but at just 17, there was very little other than lofty speculation. It did not take long for him to illustrate just what he is capable of.

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In the 2017 pre-season tour of Australia, Nelson played as a lightning-quick wide player. Traditional in every sense of the position, he was direct, skilful, dangerous with every touch of the ball, and put in several accurate deliveries into the penalty area. From the very first moment he took to a senior football pitch, it seemed as though Nelson was set to be a winger, and an orthodox, throwback one at that.

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But as his development has transpired and his game has changed, there has been a shift in his approach to the position. He has switched flanks. Nelson started as a right-footer on the right-wing, which is what you would expect from an orthodox system. But now, he primarily starts from the left side, cutting inside on his stronger right foot, looking to shot on goal rather than deliver crosses into the box. He looks to play creative through-balls and sliding reverse passes, not just whip crosses from wide. He drifts into pockets of space, looking for the ball on the half-turn. He does not just drive at the defender and sometimes looks to outmanoeuvre them with clever combinations rather than sheer speed.

These are all new elements to how Nelson approached the wide role when he first broke onto the scene. His game has developed. And the expectations of how he plays — and the impact of his presence — should develop as well.

Contrast Nelson to his apparent rival, Bukayo Saka. Saka is also playing off the left-wing, but he does so in a very different manner. While the ultimate aim of the position is to score goals, create chances and exploit space in the wide channels, there is more than one way to achieve that, and Saka shows a more traditional path, one that Nelson started out on.

Saka is explosively fast. He is terrifying in one-on-one situations, he is very agile and difficult to contain. He also recognises his athletic superiority and actively looks to exploit it, drifting wide to receive the ball before then driving at exposed defenders who have more ground to defend. He is also left-footed, meaning he is less likely to drift inside, although he does have the technical quality to do so. Saka is much closer to a throwback.

What makes Nelson so unique is that he has the physical and technical tools to play in a manner comparable to Saka. He, too, is very quick, agile and explosive. He is an excellent dribbler, a good crosser of the ball and is very challenging to contain in one-on-ones. But he chooses to play in a more nuanced manner, showing guile and craft, as well as the sheer explosiveness that many modern-day wingers possess.

Nelson may be a winger, and he may have a skill set like a throwback winger. But he does not play like one, and perhaps the expectations of his performances, in what fans see and what he produces, should shift as a consequence.