Arteta hails revitalised Arsenal star who pundits are raving about – ‘He realised…’ | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has once again hailed an Arsenal star after a recent resurgence, which has the likes of Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand purring.

The Gunners are in a strong position this season. After going deep in the FA Cup and reaching the final of the League Cup, but being knocked out of both, there’s still a chance of a league and domestic double.

Arsenal are five points clear at the top of the Premier League – Manchester City can only close the gap to two points – and Mikel Arteta’s side have also reached the Champions League final.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, after a great season last term, has been absent for much of this campaign, with Riccardo Calafiori preferred at left-back. But should the Gunners lift one or both trophies, the teen will still have had an important say.

He absolutely bossed the 3-0 win over Fulham in the Premier League last time out, playing in a position less familiar to him of late, defensive midfield, before he was picked to play there again in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid.

Arteta has hailed Lewis-Skelly in a press conference, stating: “You need to go through those emotions. Not only you, but the people next to you as well, who are giving you advice. You have to navigate through that, and that’s not easy. I understand that.

“It’s easy when it goes so well for you, but when it goes the other way, the temptation is going to start to point to people.

“I need to understand that and I need to guide him, and I need to give him my perspective, the reasons why he wasn’t playing that much.

“And he took it on board. Not the first one – after three or four times. I think he realised, ‘okay, I think if it’s not this way, I don’t think it’s going to happen.'”

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Pundits rave over Lewis-Skelly

After the Fulham match, Arteta admitted it might have been a mistake keeping Lewis-Skelly sidelined for much of the season, with the 19-year-old having played just 16 games in the league to that point.

After the same game, Arsenal legend Henry advocated for his start in the Champions League.

He said: “It’s one thing to be patient. It’s one thing to maybe be upset about the situation, but he was ready.

“He didn’t look like he didn’t play for a very long time. He controlled the game. He went forward. He bossed the game at times. That’s outstanding.

“Do not underestimate experience in this type of games, but would I like to see him in [the team] tomorrow? Obviously, yes, why not? But Mikel Arteta is the coach.

“Like everybody, I thought Declan [Rice] was outstanding once again, but Myles [Lewis-Skelly] was just different.

“I didn’t see [Martin] Zubimendi do that often – the legs, anticipation, stopping someone, boom, making someone feel that you that you are there; he was there all the time.”

Ferdinand, meanwhile, stated he was “baffled” that Lewis-Skelly hasn’t played more often this season.

He added: “It’s difficult to imagine him not playing most of the games until the end of the season now.”

Lewis-Skelly is indeed likely to feature often for Arsenal going forwards, as TEAMtalk is aware the club have no interest in letting him go, particularly after the resurgence, amid interest from Manchester United.