Mikel Arteta 'Proud' of Myles Lewis-Skelly performance vs. Monaco

Myles Lewis-Skelly had a night to remember as Arsenal defeated Monaco 3-0, much to the delight of Mikel Arteta.

When Arsenal's team sheet dropped for the Champions League clash against Monaco, and we saw 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly starting at left back, the was a real sense of what could happen with the teenager trusted by Arteta in such a big spot.

As it turns out, that trust wasn't misplaced at all, with Lewis-Skelly looking not only comfortable at the level, but relishing it as he made several runs forward, but was also solid in defense.

Not to mention his delightful pass for Gabriel Jesus that split the Monaco defense and allowed the Brazilian to square the ball for Bukayo Saka to give the Gunners the lead.

One of our own from Hale End, it is no wonder Arteta was left delighted after Lewis-Skelly's performance.

Well, really proud moment," Arteta said via arsenal.com. "He’s one of our own, 18 years old. He makes his starting debut in the Champions League and he’s just a joy to watch him you know. It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to give a chance to somebody, to start to change his career, He certainly took the chance and it’s great that we can trust him, that he can play in this environment and on this level and I was really happy with his performance."

With Lewis-Skelly's ability to shift inside to midfield and operate in the way he did, with the type of energy that Arteta craves, it is a big feather in the cap of the teenager, and while he was withdrawn just after the hour mark, in truth, we could have gone for a full 90 minutes, but that might be a little too much at this stage.

But what the performance did tell us is that Arteta trusts Lewis-Skelly and while his inclusion might have been out of necessity due to the need for squad rotation, the fact that he was able to not only hold his own, but rise above the level and not look out of place shows that yet again, Arsenal might have another bright star on its hands.

Given his performance against Monaco, Lewis-Skelly deserves more minutes going forward for the Gunners and what this game will do is further enhance the trust Mikel has for the teenager that he can plug and play him for the rest of the season.

Mikel is proud, and frankly, so are we.

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