Arsene Wenger says Reiss Nelson will prove he has ‘more in the locker’ after a solid, if unspectacular, first Premier League start for Arsenal.
The England youth international played 64 minutes on the right side of midfield as the Gunners ran out 3-2 winners against Southampton to add to his 14 previous appearances this season.
While tidy in possession, Wenger noted that the 18-year-old wasn’t quite the dynamic, creative force that Arsenal fans have seen so often at under-23 level.
“I felt that he has shown that technically he has the level,” Wenger told his post-game press conference.
“He worked very hard for the team. On the other side, we know people who watch the youth team a lot know that Reiss Nelson has a lot more in the locker to go one against one and take people on. On that front, he was a bit not completely himself today. But overall it’s positive.
“It’s natural [to be inhibited], yes. Suddenly you have an opponent who is more aggressive, quicker and you want to pass him.
“Believe me he [can] because he does that against players in training. It’s the first opportunity for him and I think he hasn’t missed it.”
After the game, Hector Bellerin was quick to congratulate Nelson on his first start. A nice sign of the camaraderie in the camp.
Congrats to my boy @ReissNelson9 on your @premierleague start. Just the begining ?? pic.twitter.com/qQzszQpTzc
— Héctor Bellerín (@HectorBellerin) April 8, 2018
With Henrikh Mkhitaryan sidelined by medial knee ligament damage and Arsene Wenger expected to rotate his other first team regulars, Nelson should get further Premier League game time as the season reaches its conclusion.
18, sensational he has started for Arsenal. Will get better and better as he learns and matures.
Has a great chance.
I think he doesn’t have much longer left on his current contract (typical Arsenal situation). Hope he signs the contract extension soon, before he becomes a big star and Arsenal struggle to match his expectation and some other club swoops in!
Hope he can help us catch Chelsea, just because 5th is better than 6th.
And gets us a Europa League place
Unless Southampton win the FA Cup (ha ha), I think 6th is OK for a Europa League place
City already won the League cup which means 6th gets to Europa qualifiers I think
Defo the goal at the moment would be 5th and Europa cup as minimum.
Put us back into CL.
What are you guys on about when we will be playing Champions League football next season winning the Europa this year.
Come on you gunners. I have a sneaky feeling we will be able to handle Atletico, unlike other teams who struggle against them.
Chelski slipped up to Hammers again.
We are now within touching distance but we will have to make up a goal differential and hope Soton do us the favour and nick all 3 points on them.
Newcastle next for us so if we can beat them by 4 without reply, we can haul even or go ahead even.
Newcastle on a strong run at the moment, it won’t be an easy game up there.
Looks like he could become an awesome player! No wonder Bellerin was congratulating him, he actually gave him some help down the right side today, which he’s not been very accustomed too of late!
At the moment I feel he is the ONLY player from academy that justifies inclusion into first squad (besides Macey)
AMN is/should be a regular by now and at Rback (or left)
The other player worth keeping a watch on is the Jeff. Not sure how he has fared on loan at Angers but he could be an interesting option to blood in at midfield. Both Ozil and Mhki still have a number of good years but they are up there in age.
Angers love Jeff. He’s become a key man for them not brimming with goals and assists but is involved in everything and genuinely excites them whenever he gets the ball
No one benefited more than Bellerin when Theo was in the team.
He may have (rightly) focused on being solid rather than spectacular today, but Reiss Nelson IS going to be a star.
Tadic gave him something to focus on the first time RN beat him. The first rule of Premier League Debuts is don’t get your leg snapped in half.
Plenty of time for both him and the excellent Iwobi to develop. They are still both very young players.
Was Hector being rested at the end? Why was he subbed off?
Unlike most of the rest of the guys on the field, he is going to play on Thursday.
Bellerin will play. Mustafi too. Granit will be on as well.
So will Iwobi.
I thought he was decent. Still obviously green in many respects but he is such a talent and willing to take on players, gets around the pitch. Iwobi is slightly older only and I mentioned last match he came on and was effective. He was good today, and gave us a bit of wing play. Created the opening for the Aubameyang goal, got a good assist for Welbeck’s second and a very decent effort at goal too. Still think though we could benefit from one more (experienced) wing player who can take on players and draw opponents out. We are… Read more »
Some wavelength issues between Bellerin and Nelson but Reiss (along with Iwobi) look at the moment the only two that can genuinely give us a bit of width in Mhki’s absense.
He seems to have grown and bulked up.
Before the thumbs down artist come flocking I would like to say this young man has great talent. It’s clear to see. The quick chopping movement he has makes him look quite dynamic and gets most people excited as soon as he receives the ball… having us wide eyed with anticipation of what we THINK he can do… often with these young talents we project our wishes… our dreams… our ambition… our very own pride of cultivating what we THINK could be a world class player… pressure makes diamonds… without such pressure players do not develop… that’s why even us… Read more »
Thought he had a decent game and he was up against Bertrand who’s no mug. Plenty to come from the lad, hopefully at Arsenal
Which of our defenders is he going past in training?
If it’s Chambers, I might not take that as much evidence of his ability to do it at the highest level.
Congrats!!!!!