Rice and Arteta hail ‘unbelievable’ Lewis-Skelly after derby day debut

Declan Rice and Mikel Arteta praised Myles Lewis-Skelly's “incredible” performance in Arsenal's north London derby victory over Tottenham on Wednesday.

Lewis-Skelly, starting in just his fourth Premier League game for the Gunners this season, put in an impressive display on the left side of defence.

He became the second-youngest Arsenal player to start in a North London derby in the Premier League (18 years and 111 days), after Cesc Fabregas, who played at home as a 17-year-old in the 2004–05 season and off started.

Lewis-Skelly finished the match having won the most tackles (three jointly with Jurrien Timber) and interceptions (two jointly with Thomas Partey) against Spurs.

Overall, his passing accuracy of 93.9% was only bettered by Rice (94.1%) of the Arsenal players who started the match at the Emirates Stadium.

Lewis-Skelly was replaced late on by Oleksandr Zinchenko as the home fans applauded the 18-year-old's performance against Ange Postecoglou's side.

“The young boy Myles was incredible,” Rice said. “To play like he is at the age of 18… it's just ridiculous. The young players now have no fear whatsoever.

“Four or five times in the second half he used his body to get away from someone. He has Mousa Dembélé-type strength.”

“It's risky, but to show that personality and character at the age of 18 is incredible.”

Lewis-Skelly faced Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson in the encounter, with the duo scoring 13 of Spurs' 43 Premier League goals this season.

But he limited the pair to just one successful dribble between them, with Arteta expressing his delight at the 18-year-old's performance in a position unfamiliar to him.

“It's very rare to see an 18-year-old playing against Kulusevski and Johnson for the first time in a big London derby, with that calmness, with that attitude, emotional control. Very rare to see,” Arteta added to.

“He makes everyone at the club very proud. He has been in our system for a long time. With him he was finished very early and in a different position.”

“He has never played as a full-back.”