Arsenal loan winger ahead of schedule for injury comeback

Reiss Nelson looks set to return from his hamstring injury ahead of schedule, working with the ball again as Fulham boss Marco Silva suggests a comeback this month is possible.

Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson suffered a serious hamstring injury on December 5th, just moments before he was meant to come off against Brighton and Hove Albion.

The injury was a big blow, particularly as Fulham manager Marco Silva suggested he’d miss “probably around 10 weeks”.

Even if we take an optimistic outlook and start that timeline from the day of the injury (rather than from the day Silva said it), a 10-week absence would mean a return on February 13th. Yet it seems Nelson is now in line to return even sooner than that.

Nelson posted on his Instagram story this week showing that he’s working with the ball again, as he steps up his recovery. Manager Silva suggested last week that the winger could even be back this month.

“Reiss will take more (than Sander Berge), before the end of the month maybe,” Silva said. “If not, then maybe just into February.”

That would be a big boost for the player, reducing his absence to a couple of months – or around eight weeks. He’ll want to be back in action as soon as possible to try and win his starting spot back.

The winger initially had to fight for starts at Fulham, making six consecutive substitute appearances in the Premier League until he made the lineup for the first time. But he then kept his spot in the team for the following five games.

If not for his hamstring injury, Nelson may have continued to start throughout the festive period. It wasn’t to be, but there’s plenty of time left in the season to make an impact, especially if he’s back at the start of February.