This Monday marks six months since Arsenal beat Fulham 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium. The game offered a rare oasis of calm in an otherwise full season of nail-biting victories. The Gunners led by three goals at half-time at the Emirates, in the midst of a five-game “play-off” for the league title with Manchester City, as well as a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid on the horizon, and the players were booed as they walked into the tunnel at half-time.
The previous weekend saw Arsenal record a nervy 1-0 win over Newcastle and draw 1-1 away to Atletico Madrid. Bukayo Saka parachuted back into the team after a long layoff; but it was clear that Mikel Arteta was looking for ways to get the ketchup out of the bottle.
Martin Zubimendi, who had played more league minutes than any other Arsenal player at the time, was relegated to the bench. Myles Lewis-Skelly started in the midfield for the first time in his shortstop career. Myles was due to start the FA Cup tie at home to Wigan before Riccardo Calafiori was injured in the warm-up, meaning Lewis-Skelley returned to left-back and Bukayo Saka in a central role.
The BBC Sport match report for the Fulham game said: “Boss Arteta has to be given credit for playing left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield for the first time and leaving out Martin Zubimendi, who has played the most minutes of any full-back in the Gunners squad. Lewis-Skelley, 19, looked confident in the role and alongside Calafiori, Saka and Eberechi Eze, Arsenal’s attack was better than it has been in weeks.
Miles kept his place for the Champions League semi-final second leg against Atleti and again for the hard-fought away win over West Ham. Then he started the semi-finals of the Champions League. Probably a week before the Fulham game, many Arsenal fans were talking about an imminent summer sale following the signings of left-back Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi in midfield.
Its local status made it a potentially attractive sale. His path seemed blocked. The point was clearly not lost on Lewis-Skelly. When he posted a picture of himself with the Premier League trophy on his Instagram account, he captioned it “pure profit”. It was a fun clapback.
His fate changed with the roll of the dice. Arteta made a brave call to bench Zubimendi in favor of a teenager who hasn’t really had a big game in central midfield. Lewis-Skelley won back his manager’s confidence. Lewis-Skelley, who appeared in the unfamiliar left-back position, repeated the trick in central midfield.
For a teenager to break into a team of Arsenal’s quality twice in different positions is quite an extraordinary achievement. He got it so real that I feel like everyone barely noticed. This summer could be tough for Myles, too.
First, his late-season revival was not enough to earn him a place in England’s World Cup squad. I think it was a short-sighted decision by Tuchel. However, during the September international break, MLS started three of England’s four Nations League games in central midfield.
In many ways, escaping a grueling World Cup summer probably did Myles good in the long run. This allowed him to play in full pre-season and in central midfield as well. With Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi heading into the final weekend of the tournament, as well as Odegaard, Eze and Bruno, he has a clear run at the position.
That put him in a strong position to start the season. However, his preseason was hampered by two things. The signing of Bruno Guimaraes could offer another roadblock to Myles’ progression. There were also strong rumors that some people at the club (!) were praising Lewis-Skelley in a bid to raise funds for a much-needed A-list striker.
As that conversation swirled over the summer, Myles’ response was to score in a preseason friendly against Comeau. What followed was even more impressive, with Bruno coming into the season with some fitness concerns. Lewis-Skelley’s form was such that his presence in midfield made him an absolute problem. He starred in victories at Villa Park and at home to Chelsea.
In fact, I still don’t think Bruno has done enough to dislodge Myles from the role of Declan Rice’s midfield partner. His apprenticeship at left back has also been very beneficial, helping him rack up more minutes. During his time at Fleetwood, he played in both positions, also starting games against Everton and Lille on the left wing.
Having a minor and major is very helpful for a young player looking to build their resume. He came on for Bruno at Allianz last week and in my opinion outplayed his more experienced, more expensive teammate. (Please don’t think I’m rooting for Bruno, he’s clearly made some big contributions this season as well).
In an interview with Men In Blazers magazine in September, Lewis-Skelley talked about how she uses mindfulness techniques to deal with stress and nerves. “There’s a Buddhist concept; it’s about the monkey mind. It’s about the mind that’s practically restless, how you can go from worry to worry.
“So whenever I’m feeling some kind of weight, it’s important for me to bring down my nervous system and calm my mind, to be calm. Whether it’s breathing techniques or music or talking to other people, I feel it’s important to be calm all the time.”
It shows in his game and how he handles certain situations. Its rebound over the past six months has been far from frictionless. Nothing was given, the pieces did not fall into place. He forced his way in and grabbed the shirt for all it was worth when he got it.
Think how unlikely it is that Lewis-Skelley will be well ahead of Zubimendi in the midfield pecking order in January, before the clocks wind back for winter. It takes a special player and a special character to solve these multiple challenges and get into this team. He met these challenges so strongly that we hardly noticed them. He has considerable talent.