The real reason England snubbed Myles Lewis-Skelly paints Mikel Arteta badly

Myles Lewis-Skelly was snubbed by the England national team. After getting a call-up in the last wave of friendlies and playing well under Thomas Tuchel, the Three Lions opted for a defensive setup without the Arsenal youngster.

And we can't say that this wasn't coming. Myles Lewis-Skelly very quickly went from hero to zero, and it only took a summer for that to happen. Last season, he was Arsenal's starting left back, without any hesitation, but this campaign, he is scraping the bottom of the barrel for measly minutes.

Riccardo Calafiori is at the top of the pecking order in this position, and Arsenal has pretty much settled on its defense. This leaves no wiggle room for Myles Lewis-Skelly, and something needs to change if he is to get a look-in at both Arsenal and England going forward.

The real reason why England snubbed Myles Lewis-Skelly

Last month, Thomas Tuchel warned the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly that playing well for your domestic team is of paramount importance. This message was not received, or it was ignored, by Mikel Arteta.

In his own words, Tuchel said: "To just be a good citizen in camp will not be enough over the course of a year. [Lewis-Skelly] was a very good player in camp, a very good team-mate in camp. But being a good team-mate in camp may not be good enough to stay the whole year with us."

"You have to perform at club level on a regular basis. In the last camp, he got the credit, that I was convinced we have to take care of him and nominate him because we accelerated his career. It was our responsibility after we called him last season. So we stick to this.'"

Myles Lewis-Skelly got the benefit of the doubt in the last England camp, despite not playing for Arsenal even back then, but this time around, Tuchel could not justify it.

Now, Mikel Arteta is entirely to blame. The Gunners boss is, obviously, doing a terrific job, but he's not been perfect. One of the main criticisms you could have about Arteta is that he hasn't willingly rotated his squad. Sure, he's been forced to due to injuries, but some of Arsenal's younger players have been rotting away on the bench.

Myles Lewis-Skelly is not the only player - Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman, who are both more than capable of starting week in, week out, have been forced to make a name for themselves despite hardly playing.

And, look, context matters. Of course, Arteta has to manage these players' time on the pitch. Although they are capable of playing every minute, it would be unwise to suggest this, given their age.

We are certainly not campaigning for the Hale End graduates to play each and every minute, but they need to be playing more. Otherwise, opportunities will continue to be taken away from them in the national team.

Lewis-Skelly is the closest of the three to making the World Cup squad, but he will need a favor or two from Arteta to make it happen.

So, long story short, Arteta absolutely needs to play Lewis-Skelly more. And fans have every reason to be annoyed that he hasn't done that so far this season. It's hard to promise that, considering Calafiori's form, but Lewis-Skelly isn't far off himself.