Mikel Arteta believes that Reiss Nelson has now demonstrated that he can be "really important" for Arsenal in the title race following his dramatic late winner against Bournemouth.
The Gunners were on the verge of suffering a major setback in their bid to clinch a first Premier League title in 19 years after Bournemouth raced into a two goal lead via Phillip Billing and Marcos Senesi. But Thomas Partey and Ben White struck second-half goals to set up a grand finale at the Emirates.
And it was Nelson who popped up with a rasping 97th minute winner to cap a remarkable comeback and keep Arsenal's title tilt on track.
The 23-year-old Hale End graduate had been absent in recent weeks with a thigh injury, but Arteta admitted that he had chosen to leave the winger out after his return to fitness in favour of "other options". The Spaniard now appears to have changed his tune following Nelson's late, late impact, though, after lauding his late strike.
“I always saw the potential,” Arteta insisted after the match when he was asked about Nelson's last-gasp thunderbolt. “The talent and the desire for him to do it, but he’s at a different level right now. I think emotionally, the experiences that he had helped him.
“Football-wise, it was my decision in the last two games not to play him because we had other options. But he was knocking on the door, he’s been training really good and it’s a good lesson for me and for the coaches that we need him and that he can be really important for the team.”
Nelson is out of contract at the end of the season but could yet force his way into Arsenal's future plans. His dramatic intervention against Bournemouth is the second time this season that the youngster has made a major impact after coming off the bench.
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He scored twice and helped inspire the Gunners to a thumping 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest earlier in the season after replacing Bukayo Saka early in the match.
Nelson's show-stealing performance against Forest came just weeks after he was challenge by Arteta to prove he can "still be special" at Arsenal after impressing during a season-long loan at Feyenoord last term.
Speaking back in October, the Arsenal chief said: “After the spell that he had last year on loan, we wanted him back to see if there are any changes, and there’s a prospect that we can really take to the next level. We think the potential is there and we think we’ve seen something in Reiss that is special.
“He’s been a part of our academy system and now he’s going to have an opportunity. He’s been out for almost three months with an injury, he’s back now, he’s fully fit and he’s ready to play. He just needs minutes now.
“His attitude and the way he’s matured and evolved over the past year or so has been really impressive, I think everybody is talking about it and now he needs to do it on the pitch.”
