Sport

Is Myles Lewis-Skelly’s future as an Arsenal player in central midfield after Fulham performance?

Mikel Arteta’s delight at Myles Lewis-Skelly’s performance in the win over Fulham was clear in the Arsenal manager’s embrace of the youngster at full time. The Gunners needed the 19-year-old to produce in a must-win match in the Premier League title race and that’s exactly what he did, albeit not in his usual position.

 

Indeed, Lewis-Skelly was deployed alongside Declan Rice in central midfield with Riccardo Calafiori fielded at left back, where the teenager initially broke through last season. Since then, Lewis-Skelly has fallen down the pecking order, but Saturday’s performance suggested his future could be in the middle.

 

“He had a spectacular season last year when he jumped into the first team, but he had some difficult moments after that,” said Arteta after the win against Fulham. “He stayed very humble, very focused, very aligned with what we wanted to do, and I knew he was ready. He’s been showing in training every day the opportunities that he had to play. He’s done it, and today he really stepped up, and I thought he had an incredible performance.”

 

Of course, Lewis-Skelly came through the Arsenal academy as a central midfielder. That’s the position he played the majority of his youth career in and so it shouldn’t be surprising that the 19-year-old looked so comfortable as Rice’s midfield partner in the 3-0 home win over the Cottagers.

 

Lewis-Skelly played the position very differently to how Martin Zubimendi has played it this season. While Zubimendi likes to control matches through his use of possession, Lewis-Skelly is an all-action presence in the centre of the pitch. He was a force of nature in Saturday’s comprehensive victory.

 

This season has been a challenge for Lewis-Skelly. He has played just 502 minutes in the Premier League with reports even claiming that Arsenal could be tempted into selling the youngster if the right offer landed on their table this summer. Manchester United were one of the rival teams linked.

 

The Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) might have made the sale of Lewis-Skelly attractive, with Arsenal able to put down any fee as pure profit due to the teenager being an academy graduate, but the 19-year-old is a special talent who only requires some coaching and guidance to reach the top level.

 

Such are the stakes at this stage of the season with Arsenal competing for Premier League and Champions League glory, Lewis-Skelly might not see much more game time before the end of May. Zubimendi will surely start against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday and deserves to be thought of as Rice’s first-choice partner for the final stretch of fixtures.

 

By catching the eye against Fulham, though, Lewis-Skelly might have solved a potential issue for the summer transfer window. Before Saturday, Arsenal might have been forced into the market for another central midfield to offer greater depth behind Rice and Zubimendi. Now, that’s a role Lewis-Skelly could perform moving forward into next season.

 

Talent has never been an issue for Lewis-Skelly and it wasn’t so long ago that he was Arsenal’s first-choice left back. However, his improvised introduction to the Gunners’ starting lineup might have blurred his true path at the club. He was a midfielder playing at left back and now Arteta is apparently open to playing him in his actual position.

 

Now that Lewis-Skelly has experience of playing at left back, his defensive instincts for playing in central midfield are sharper. He has plenty to offer in his natural position and might have secured his long-term place in the squad at the Emirates Stadium. Saturday might have been the true start of his Arsenal career.