Reiss Nelson injured, will be out until November

Arsenal’s promising young forward Reiss Nelson was all set to join the England under-21 squad this international break, giving him some more valuable international exposure and continuing his so-far-impressive development. But now that’s off the table, as the 19 year old has picked up an unspecified “knee injury” that will probably sideline him for a month.

It doesn’t sound terribly serious, and it’s unclear whether the injury was picked up in training or in Nelson’s appearance against Standard Liege, but the net effect is that he’ll be out until November while his knee heals up. While I don’t believe this is a permanent setback, it’s really unfortunate timing, as Nelson was just starting to give Unai Emery a lot of selection headaches, forcing his way into contention sooner than probably a lot of us expected or hoped.

If that November date holds, Nelson will be unavailable for Sheffield United and Crystal Palace in the league, Liverpool in the league Carabao Cup, and Vitória in the Europa League. Arsenal’s first November fixture is against Wolves on 11/2, so hopefully he’ll be fit for that, or for the away Vitória leg on the 6th.