Myles Lewis-Skelly made it back-to-back Premier League starts for Arsenal as he lined up to face Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Arsenal have suffered a defensive injury crisis this season, with Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Jurrien Timber all either currently out of action or having spent time on the sidelines.
This situation has created problems for Mikel Arteta to solve, but one positive to have come from this spate of injuries has been the emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly.
The 18-year-old Hale End academy gem is a midfielder by trade, but has been called upon to fill in as a full-back.
Lewis-Skelly has been training at left-back for some time, and now that a chance to shine for the senior side has come his way in that part of the pitch he has grasped the opportunity with both hands.
Premier League fans give verdict on Myles Lewis-Skelly
The Arsenal youngster has shown that he is able to thrive at the highest level.
Again, against Crystal Palace on Saturday, the teenager caught the eye with his physicality, defensive maturity, and quality on the ball.
Lewis-Skelly has even got fans of rival Premier League clubs on X casting envious glances at the Arsenal wonderkid.
One Tottenham Hotspur fan said: “Arsenal fans don’t give anywhere near enough hype to Myles Lewis Skelly. Wow, I am in love. Immense technical ability, defensively dominant, insane work rate, good carrier. This is Arsenal’s future.”
A Manchester United supporter claimed: “Myles Lewis-Skelly is too strong for his age. He plays so maturely and composed, as if he has been defending for years. Great player to watch out for.”
Another stated: “I’m out so barely caught the game but that Lewis-Skelly for Arsenal is somet special, man. Small compact build just rams into everything and comes out unscathed, proper ball-winner but has a serious carrying/passing game too. I’m a massive fan of that lad.”
One Fulham supporter added: “By the way guys, England doesn’t have a proper left back and Lewis-Skelly isn’t exactly doing bad at Arsenal. We should not be surprised eventually, even before the end of this season.”
Another asked: “Arsenal’s academy has been pumping out crazy talent recently. How is this guy so Prem ready this young?”
A Liverpool fan chipped in with: “Arsenal has Lewis Skelly and still spent 60 mill a pop on defenders in the summer.”
Where does Lewis-Skelly now stand at Arsenal?
Whilst he came into the team as emergency cover, Arteta will now recognise that Lewis-Skelly has been able to catapult himself up the pecking order.
Even if the manager had a fully fit complement of players to choose from, the England under-19 international would still now be in contention for regular game time.
Arsenal fans have been excited about Lewis-Skelly for some time, and for good reason it would seem.
The rest of English football is now starting to sit up and take notice of the prodigious talent that the Gunners have on their hands.
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