Myles Lewis-Skelly: Teenager inspires Arsenal rout over Manchester City
2025-02-03
Category: sports

The first time Myles Lewis-Skelly crossed his path, Erling Haaland demanded to know: "Who are you?"Manchester City's superstar striker was unimpressed to be confronted by the Arsenal teenager at Etihad Stadium in September.That initial meeting came amid angry scenes at the end of an ill-tempered 2-2 draw at Etihad Stadium, during which Lewis-Skelly made headlines - before he had even played a minute of Premier League football - by being shown a yellow card while warming up as a substitute.Haaland need not ask again. Lewis-Skelly, 18, inspired a 5-1 win that keeps Arsenal right in the title race - and delivered a goal celebration for the ages which appeared to be aimed right at City's striker.A name that was once unfamiliar will now be burned on the memory. For after scoring his first Arsenal goal, Lewis-Skelly dropped to his knees before crossing his arms in the meditation celebration so often used by Haaland himself.The teenager relished this moment of pure theatre. His Arsenal team-mates gathered around to allow him to milk every second.It could become an iconic image should Lewis-Skelly fulfil the promise he is showing. His contribution - and his celebration - came in a match he would have missed had his controversial red card at Wolverhampton Wanderers eight days earlier not been rescinded on appeal. How City must wish the red card had stood."I have seen Lewis-Skelly very close," former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott told Match of the Day 2. "His whole attitude stood out, he is playing above his age."He was not afraid of Haaland at all. He has confidence weeping through his veins."Arsenal's joy was in sharp contrast to City's misery. Haaland was treated as the villain of the piece throughout by the home fans, who had not forgotten his "stay humble" message to manager Mikel Arteta in that post-match melee in September.Gabriel celebrated in Haaland's face when Martin Odegaard gave Arsenal an early lead, while banners in the stands also reminded him about his verbal altercation with Arteta.
All the angst here can be traced back to that meeting in September, when Arsenal almost held on to win with 10 men following Leandro Trossard's first-half red card. The Gunners had to settle for a draw that day when John Stones scored for Manchester City with seconds left.In the fallout, Guardiola ramped up the rivalry with Arsenal when he said: "You want a war? Now we war."It was meant purely in the sporting context, of course, but this meeting ended as a very one-sided battle, a humiliating one for fallen champions City, who have now developed an alarming habit of complete collapse in the face of adversity.City conceded four second-half goals in last month's 4-2 Champions League defeat away to Paris St-Germain. It was a similar story here. Has the form of an elite team ever fallen off a cliff so completely?And as if Arsenal did not have enough to celebrate with Lewis-Skelly once again announcing himself as one to watch, the icing on the cake was applied by another teenager, Ethan Nwaneri, with a sweet strike in the dying seconds.Arsenal may have lost one player they regarded as a star of the future, 18-year-old Ayden Heaven, to Manchester United, but this win demonstrated they have two other young gems.
Lewis-Skelly gave hints of his confidence and personality in those angry verbal exchanges at Etihad Stadium. Since then, he has shown he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.He oozes self-belief and settled lingering Arsenal nerves with his powerful 62nd minute strike, although Manchester City keeper Stefan Ortega should have done much better than help it in.And how he revelled in the deserved standing ovation he was given when he came off after 88 minutes.Lewis-Skelly's emergence fills a potential problem position at left-back for Arsenal. New England head coach Thomas Tuchel, also thin on options in that area, will have him under the microscope too.Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: "You need big individual performances against this Manchester City team to beat them in the manner that we have done and Myles was certainly one of them with the maturity he showed and the competitiveness as well. On top of that he scores a goal."Ethan comes in and plays with that personality as well and scored a beautiful goal. He has been pushing us since he has been with us. We really like the character, the personality. He has got so much courage."He is very prepared, very intelligent and has qualities to fit in the way we want to play. He earned the right to get respected by the team-mates. He got some minutes and is asking for more. Even when competition is high he deserves to play."Lewis-Skelly's contribution was so vital because this was effectively a "must-win" game for Arsenal, even at this stage of the season. Defeat was certainly unthinkable as it would have left them nine points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, having played a game more.Arsenal will feel a gap of six points is still something they can reel in. The manner and margin of this win against Manchester City will strengthen that feeling.It was a win that extended their unbeaten league run to 14 games, suggesting that if Liverpool falter, they are there to step in.As Lewis-Skelly made his way off in triumph with the credits rolling on this statement win, Arsenal's fans declared him to be "one of our own".Arsenal may just have a superstar in the making in the youngster who helped to keep their Premier League title challenge on track.The final insult to Haaland and Manchester City came after the final whistle as the strains of Kendrick Lamar's Humble played over the stadium public address system.If Arsenal follow their own advice, this may yet be a Premier League title race to remember.