Arsenal finished 2024 with a good win against Ipswich Town in the Premier League.
The Gunners have been the best team in the country in this calendar year. They have picked up more points, scored the most goals and conceded the least in 2024.
Kai Havertz’s first-half goal was enough to seal the game for Mikel Arteta’s side, but there was another player who impressed everybody.
Declan Rice has now heaped praise on him after his performance against the Tractor Boys on Friday night.
Arsenal star Declan Rice says it feels like Myles Lewis-Skelly ‘was built in a lab’
Myles Lewis-Skelly started for the third game in a row in the Premier League on Friday.
The teenager is naturally a midfielder, but Arsenal’s injury issues and style of play have made Arteta deploy him as a left-back this season.
That hasn’t fazed Lewis-Skelly, who has been fantastic for the Gunners. His performance against Ipswich Town is arguably his best display in an Arsenal shirt so far.
Rice knows a thing or two about playing in the Premier League as a teenager – he did it at West Ham United all those years ago.
He has been amazed by how good Lewis-Skelly has been and has now raved about him.
Rice told Arsenal.com: “He can go to the top, this kid is just special, very special. For an 18-year-old to be that good, that comfortable, that strong – it was like he was built in a lab!
“I said that to him the other day, it’s just ridiculous how good he is, but he has a long way to go. He’s so level-headed, he’s got a great family around him, I know his mum looks after him really well and all the boys at the training ground do too.
“We have a really good crop of youngsters coming through and he can be what he wants to be, he just needs to stay focused and always want more and he can do that.”
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Myles Lewis-Skelly’s stats vs Ipswich Town will blow you away
Lewis-Skelly played the full 90 minutes for the Arsenal first team for the first time ever against Ipswich.
Arteta had four other left-backs on the bench – Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Kieran Tierney – but the Gunners boss chose to stick with the teenager all game.
Lewis-Skelly did not disappoint.
The Hale End star had 86 touches of the ball and completed 58 of his 59 attempted passes, thus maintaining a stunning 98 per cent passing accuracy. He created two chances as well.
The 18-year-old also won eight of his nine attempted ground duels, made three tackles and two clearances (Sofascore). He was absolutely outstanding.
Arteta has already told Calafiori that he has to ‘earn his place’ back in the side. That won’t be easy if Lewis-Skelly continues to perform at this level.
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