Mikel Arteta praised for ‘surprise’ selection as Arsenal star shines in ‘dream’ Fulham victory | OneFootball

Gunners are six points clear at top of Premier League

Mikel Arteta has been lauded for his decision to start Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham on Saturday.

The victory took the Gunners six points clear of Manchester City in the Premier League title race, although Pep Guardiola’s men do have two games in hand on their rivals.

As such, he handed Martin Zubimendi a rest, and gave Lewis-Skelly the nod in the engine room alongside Declan Rice.

Lewis-Skelly impressed on a rare league outing for the 19-year-old, completing 64 of his 66 attempted passes, while covering plentiful ground and winning his duels in centre-field.

After the game, Jamie Redknapp heaped praise on the Arsenal boss for his bold selection.

“It's a great victory for Arsenal,” Redknapp said on Sky Sports.

“It was so important that they won today and the manner in which they did it, certainly in the first half, the manager deserves credit.

"Starting Myles Lewis-Skelly was a surprise but he showed real energy and intent from minute one, and that seemed to give everyone else that impetus and calmness. Arteta deserves huge credit for that.

"They could have scored more in the second half but if you'd said to the manager that they'd win 3-0 and get the goal difference up, he'd have absolutely taken that."

Big performance: Myles Lewis-Skelly

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Former Arsenal striker Paul Merson said: "In his wildest dreams last night laying in bed, Arteta couldn't have dreamt of that [performance].

"When it gets down to this stage of the season, you've got to start well - close down, have shots and suffocate the other team and get the fans up.

"Lewis-Skelly was a prime example of that. He got tight on a couple of balls and Fulham couldn't get out of their half. They started so well.

"They went after Fulham. They couldn't go after Newcastle last week, they've got better quality players. They sussed it out very quickly and went, 'You're not going to hurt us and we're just going to suffocate you here'.

"They've got to start like that again next week and every game they play from now on."

Arsenal have three games to play in the league as the title race goes to the wire.

They travel to West Ham - who were thrashed by Brentford earlier on Saturday - before a home fixture against already-relegated Burnley.