Following Arsenal's comprehensive win over Nottingham Forest at the weekend, it's highly unlikely that anyone could have predicted Reiss Nelson would arguably be the biggest talking point from the game. The 22-year-old was introduced for the injured Bukayo Saka in the first half and went on to score twice and grab an assist.
With Saka having featured in all 17 competitive games for Arsenal this season, there has been understandable concern from pundits and fans alike that a possible injury to the Englishman or Gabriel Martinelli would expose the lack of depth the Gunners have in the forward areas despite the summer acquisitions of Fabio Viera and Marquinhos.
Emile Smith Rowe has played only 47 minutes for Arsenal this season after he suffered a groin injury in September, which needed surgery, likely keeping him unavailable until 2023 at least and when Saka went down at the weekend there was understandable concern that no replacement would be able to match his output and intensity.
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Arsenal did attempt to lure quality forwards to north London in the summer but failed in their attempts to do so. Raphinha was the biggest name the Gunners were linked with but he opted for a move to Barcelona from Leeds while Pedro Neto chose to stay at Wolves despite serious interest from Arsenal.
The disappointment of those moves not coming to fruition were likely plaguing the minds of many Arsenal fans, but the club may have been provided with a transfer alternative that was right under their nose all along.
Nelson, who had featured in three of Arsenal's Europa League group stage matches, had not made a Premier League appearance since November 29, 2020 in the 2-1 defeat to Wolves, but did not look out of place as he trebled his Premier League goal tally in the space of three minutes.
For his first goal, after seeing his first shot beaten away by Dean Henderson, he showed the determination to latch onto the follow-up, but rather than aimlessly thumping the ball towards goal he picked out the top corner with precision.
Buoyed by his first goal, Nelson notched another one just a few phases of play later, showing superb penalty box prowess to guide a Gabriel Jesus cross into the bottom corner before he then set up Thomas Partey with a perfectly weighted pass for Arsenal's fifth.
Of course, some context is needed as Arsenal were playing bottom-of-the-table Forest, but Mikel Arteta has been shown by Nelson he does not need to frantically search for Saka replacements if his injury is deemed long-term and the England under-21 international has also shown his manager he can be trusted which will undoubtedly lessen the workload on Saka later in the season.
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