Mikel Arteta admits he was actually about to sub off one Arsenal star before he did something incredible vs Atleti

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Arsenal produced a fantastic performance against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

Many people expected the Gunners to struggle against Diego Simeone’s system, and it wasn’t an easy game by any means.

However, a stunning 13-minute spell in the second half produced four goals for Arsenal, who sent a major statement with their win.

One Arsenal player was particularly impressive on Tuesday night – Myles Lewis-Skelly. But he was close to being replaced.

Mikel Arteta says he was about to sub off Myles Lewis-Skelly before his magical moment vs Atletico Madrid

Lewis-Skelly got a rare start for Arsenal against Atletico Madrid.

The Englishman has mostly played as a backup to Riccardo Calafiori this season, and the expectation was that he would be on the bench again on Tuesday night.

However, Mikel Arteta gave him the opportunity, and Lewis-Skelly produced one of the best moments of the game in the second half.

The teenager picked the ball up in the middle of the park, drove into the final third and provided a perfectly-weighted pass to Gabriel Martinelli, who scored.

But just before that happened, Arteta had decided to take Lewis-Skelly off the pitch and replace him with Calafiori.

That plan changed after his brilliant run and assist.

On Amazon Prime Video after the game, Arteta was asked: “Was Calafiori all set and ready to go, and then Myles Lewis-Skelly makes that run? That’s about right, isn’t it, on the touchline?”

The Arsenal manager replied: “Yeah, that’s football. Then we decided to make other changes because there are players who we have to manage.”

Myles Lewis-Skelly has an important role to play at Arsenal this season

It was a big surprise to see Arteta preferring Calafiori to Lewis-Skelly on the opening day of this season after how good the latter was in 2024/25.

However, the Spaniard’s decision has been proved right as Calafiori has had a brilliant campaign so far.

That is a bit of a shame for Lewis-Skelly, who has done nothing wrong to lose his place in the side, but the teenager showed immense character by delivering against Atleti on Tuesday night.

That is going to be very important this season as Calafiori, who has had injury issues in the past, cannot play every single game.

Lewis-Skelly needs to be ready to play whenever he is called upon, and his performance against Atletico Madrid should convince Arteta to give him more minutes as well.