Arsenal youngster believes he can earn PL chances through Europa League | OneFootball

Reiss Nelson believes the Europa League gives him an opportunity to show Mikel Arteta what he can do and earn Premier League minutes.

Reiss Nelson was one of Arsenal’s key players against Molde FK on Thursday, scoring to top off a positive overall performance against their Europa League opposition.

The winger was always positive and forward-thinking, taking most of his touches in and around the opposition penalty area.

After the game, Nelson was asked whether the likes of himself and Joe Willock could make their case for more Premier League starts using the European competition.

“Of course,” Nelson replied. “Joe is in excellent form and it just shows that if you do your business on the pitch the manager is not afraid to throw you in like he has with Joe and with everyone else.

“We are through now so it is a pat on the back for us and the hard work continues. We keep going with the young players and the seniors to keep playing well, scoring goals and winning more games.”

Arteta is certainly warming to Nelson through these matches, and he had a lot of praise for the young winger on Thursday.

“He’s made some big steps in the last month or so,” Arteta said. “He’s shown what he can do.

“Again, he’s another player that wants to take you on all the time, he’s very vertical, he’s a great player when he runs in behind and he’s very unpredictable. I really like these types of players to play in the wide positions.”

The Arsenal manager did also highlight some areas for improvement in Nelson’s game, but he insists that it’s positive that the youngster is so driven to succeed with the club.

“Defensively, there are things that he needs to do better and he will improve in that but he’s a much more mature player,” Arteta admitted.

“He showed a great attitude, in my opinion, to say that he didn’t want to leave on loan because he believes that he’s got a chance to play for this football club.”

Nelson certainly has a chance to play this weekend, with the doubts around Bukayo Saka and Willian on the fitness front and Nicolas Pepe’s suspension. Good luck to him if he gets the nod.