‘Not Nketiah nor Granit Xhaka’: Media wowed by 23-year-old Arsenal player’s display vs Juventus on Saturday
Arsenal youngster has been lauded for his performance for Arsenal before he came off with an injury in their friendly with Juventus on Saturday.
With Mikel Arteta dealing with a few issues right now, Nelson must have felt that he had a massive opportunity against the Old Lady at the Emirates.
Obviously, Gabriel Jesus is sidelined for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are making their way back from breaks following the World Cup. And it is not entirely clear when Emile Smith Rowe will be back playing.
Reiss Nelson praised after Arsenal friendly
Nelson scored in the win over AC Milan while the Gunners were in Dubai. And another impressive showing against Juve would have surely seen the 23-year-old really knocking on the door to face West Ham.
Unfortunately, his evening would end after just 22 minutes as he pulled up with a hamstring injury. But he still managed to make a positive impact on the game. He very nearly scored a brilliant goal in the opening minutes.
Football London was full of praise for his brief appearance, and described the injury setback as ‘devastating’.
“Bright and involved in everything good Arsenal did going forward in the early stages,” they wrote, as they gave the youngster a 7/10 rating.
“Combined well with Fabio Vieira on occasion and was unlucky not to score himself with a decent effort. Devastating that he had to come off with what looked like a hamstring injury.”
Arsenal fans have been awaiting the moment Nelson moves from incredibly talented prospect to first-team player Arteta simply cannot ignore.
He clearly has all the talent. However, for various reasons – including injury and the form of others – it has never quite clicked for Nelson at Arsenal.
So it is agonising that he came off against Juve. He could have easily been in contention to start against West Ham on Boxing Day.
Certainly, many supporters will be keeping everything crossed that the injury is not serious and will not keep him out for long at all.
