Mikel Arteta labeled the display of Myles Lewis-Skelly against Manchester City as “beautiful”, while the teenager was central to Arsenal's 5-1 thrashing of the defending champion.
Lewis-Skelly was on goal in the 62nd minute with a nice individual effort, with his right-applied strike helped in the upper corner by visiting goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
The finish of Martin Odegaard after just two minutes was canceled by Erling Haaland's header in the second half, but one -way traffic in favor of the Gunners followed quickly.
Arsenal was almost immediately back due to the bent strike of Thomas Pedey, before Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and replacement Ethan Nwaneri sealed the victory.
In the form of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly, this was only the fourth time that two players of 18 years or younger had scored for the same team in a Premier League match, and only since James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe for Everton against Fulham in April Success 2007.
But it was the general achievements of Lewis-Skelly who attracted attention and won most duels (seven) and most mistakes (three) for Arsenal on the side of Pep Guardiola.
“You need large individual versions to beat them. Myles was certainly one of them, the maturity he showed and also competitiveness,” said Arteta.
“He plays with that personality and he has scored a nice goal. He has been pushing us since he has been here. We love his character and personality. He has so much courage.
“He has qualities that fit the way we want to play. He has received a few minutes and he asks for more. He deserves to play.”
The victory of Arsenal saw them keep them pace with leaders Liverpool on the Premier League top, with the Gunners six points behind the Arne Slot side, who have a match in hand.
The side of Arteta, however, takes on a different title challenge in the right way. They are now unbeaten in 14 consecutive Premier League matches (won nine, five signed) for the first time since December 2018 under Unai Emery (also a run of 14).
For Arteta there was also some personal pride against Guardiola, with whom he spent three and a half years in City as an assistant head coach.
The Arsenal -Baas lost nine of his first 10 management meetings with Guardiola (won one), but after today's victory, only the third manager became undefeated in all matches against the Spaniard (won two, pulled three), after Thomas Tuchel (2016 to 2021) and Jurgen Klopp (2021 to 2022).
But Arteta quickly passed on the importance of his latest triumph about Guardiola to maintain the pressure on Liverpool in the title race.
“It's a great day for us, especially with the need to win the game. I am really satisfied,” he added. “We had to suffer and at times we needed a bit of luck, and we had it.
“They hold you very deeply and at those moments you have to suffer and, as I said, there were times when we were lucky. In general we scored some beautiful goals and the team showed a highly competitive level.”
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