As long as Arsenal remain at the top of the Premier League table, there will be people queuing up to write off Mikel Arteta’s side.
The arguments are generally based on pretty sound reasoning. It’s a long season. Arsenal's squad isn’t deep enough to sustain their form. Manchester City are an unbeatable juggernaut. Injuries will derail the Gunners eventually. They are fighting against the weight of their own historic underperformance in the competition over the past 18 years or so.
But, for now at least, Arteta is defying those arguments. The Gunners are two points clear of City. They have won 10 of their 12 league matches and have been pretty good value in all of those games.
The latest of those wins came on Sunday when Arsenal thrashed Nottingham Forest 5-0. And the nature of that victory hinted that Arsenal might just have the answers to one of the aforementioned questions.
Bukayo Saka has been one of the key performers for Arteta so far this season so when he went down injured it looked like a real blow. Enter Reiss Nelson, who grabbed his opportunity in eye-catching style with two goals and an assist.
Nelson has long been considered the next star from the Arsenal academy, and after loan spells with Hoffenheim and Feyenoord, it looks like he may be ready to fulfil that potential. His impact on the pitch was not the only plus point for Arsenal and Arteta – Nelson’s words afterwards were music to their ears.
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Nelson explained that he would be delighted to sign a new contract with the club before going on to say: “I'm just really, really focused on doing everything possible just to do the right stuff and if I get to play for the team to do well.
"Of course it's hard coming in for 5-10 minutes and of course, I would love to play much, much longer. But any opportunity I get, I'm going to try and take and just do my very best and just keep helping the team really.”
That attitude is exactly what Arteta requires from his fringe players. Keeping everybody happy in a competitive squad is a difficult thing for a manager to do – but he is managing it at the moment.
Arteta was a player inside the Gunners’ dressing room just six years ago. He understands what they are going through and how to juggle things. Currently he is keen on consistency of selection – and that means Nelson and the others on the outside will have to be patient.
Maintaining a happy camp is a great deal easier when the team is winning and the morale is high. And it seems that Arteta has a lot of credit in the bank with his players. He will need to cash that in when the going gets tough later on this season.
