Arsenal: Reiss Nelson has four months to make it happen

Reiss Nelson had his first stand-out performance for Arsenal against Leeds in the FA Cup, now he just has four months to prove that it’s for real.

Arsenal‘s winger situation was a mess just one year ago. We were in the midst of a streak of not having any true wingers, but we had the summer to look forward to, with Reiss Nelson ready-made, set to return from his Hoffenheim loan, and surely a new signing.

We got both of those things. We got Nelson back and we broke the bank in record-smashing style for Nicolas Pepe. That was that. Two guys that were supposed to hold down the fort and fix things were here to do that.

It wasn’t smooth sailing from the off. For either one. Particularly for Reiss Nelson, who looked physically weak in the early going of the season before getting hurt and falling behind Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.

Nelson has slowly been reintroduced under Mikel Arteta. Arteta made the audacious decision to start Nelson over Nicolas Pepe in his first two matches as a manager.

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Perhaps this was his attempt to get out of Nelson what we had thought we should already be getting out of him, but it really didn’t work. Nelson showed glimpses of being a positive presence, but he struggled to make that last as his confidence and energy ebbed and flowed.

It wasn’t until the FA Cup match against Leeds United that we saw Nelson really break through. He was fluid on the ball, his speed was on display and he looked every bit up to the physical challenges of the match.

It paid off in a goal—the one goal of the match.

Nelson has fired his first shot at being a first-team regular, but he’s done so about six months later than expected. That’s fine. There’s no time limit on these things… usually. This time around, there may be.

By the end of the year, the Gunners will have had another four months of Saka and Martinelli, both of whom I’d argue have more raw talent than Nelson, and both of whom also happen to be younger. It is up to Nelson to fend off those hungry feet and keep the job for himself and he needs to have that locked in by this summer or things could change for his future.

He’s always going to be welcome to fight for his spot, but there is a such thing as running away with a position, and Martinelli is damn close to doing that.