After a stodgy opening hour on Tuesday night at the Emirates, the cavalry arrived and Arsenal cruised to victory over Lille in the Champions League.
The Gunners dominated possession and territory in the first 60 minutes, but lacked incision in forward areas without their most creative attacking players. The likes of Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and Mikel Merino found it difficult to impact the game in the final third, but their replacements certainly didn't.
After Jurrien Timber's delightful finish gave the North Londoners the lead, the arrival of Bukayo Saka , Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz changed the game. Saka's cut-back found Eberechi Eze minutes after these substitutions, and the number ten converted emphatically. Then, Odegaard and Havertz combined to set up Saka, who delivered a cultured finish for the first time in a while.
While the substitutes, an imperious Timber and a magnificent Bruno Guimaraes will come away with the plaudits, another Arsenal player actually shone brighter than most on the night.
Fans were left frustrated when Piero Hincapie sustained an injury in the warm-down after Saturday's game against Leeds United, ruling him out for the visit of Lille. The Ecuadorian was a shoo-in to start against the French side, given the need to be cautious with Riccardo Calafiori's minutes.
Supporters were resigned to using Calafiori from the start once again, risking the Italian's fitness for pivotal upcoming matches against Nottingham Forest and Bayern Munich. However, these fans forgot one key thing. Myles Lewis-Skelly is still an extremely competent left-back.
While he may not have the defensive qualities in wide areas of his two natural left-back counterparts, he's more than capable of doing a job in this role in a League Phase home match against Lille. After all, he produced a masterclass in this position at the Bernabeu 18 months ago.
Mikel Arteta called upon the 20-year-old on the left-hand side of Arsenal's defence against Lille, and he delivered much more than a competent display. Just how good his outing was has gone under the radar, with Guimaraes and Timber stealing the headlines for their contributions.
Setting the tone early on, Lewis-Skelly crunched into a tackle on Dilane Bakwa before driving past a hapless Nabil Bentaleb and winning a free-kick. This aggression and urgency were rare in a half that sorely lacked intensity.
| Myles Lewis-Skellly's Stats vs Lille |
* |
| Minutes Played |
90 |
|---|---|
| Accurate Passes |
33/37 (89%) |
| Chances Created |
3 |
| Touches |
55 |
| Passes into the Final Third |
7 |
| Recoveries |
7 |
| Line-Breaking Passes |
5 |
His passing was typically crisp and progressive, while he negated any threat that Bakwa posed down his side. In games that see Arsenal dominate the ball and the territory, Lewis-Skelly is an ideal fit because of his ability to retain possession under pressure, recyle the ball effectively and contrubute to the relentless squeezing of the opposition.
Perhaps the most surprising and encouraging aspect of Lewis-Skelly's performance was that it was much less of an Oleksandr Zinchenko impression than usual. Back when he played in this position in the 2024/25 season (and at times last term), the youngster was tasked with inverting into midfield, playing the role like the Ukrainian did.
However, with Guimaraes and Declan Rice controlling the central areas, there was less scope for this inversion from Lewis-Skelly. Instead, he was deployed as a more traditional full-back, and he actually did well in these areas.
He supported the attack and made a number of underlapping runs, like Timber did on the other side. He showed the intelligence to position himself correctly in the attack to influence the game in the final third, highlighted by the chance he created for Eze shortly before half-time.
Ultimately, this was a sign of growing maturity, flexibility and versatility from Lewis-Skelly. He made a point to Arteta that he can be entrusted in multiple different roles and phases of the game, and that he's not just a midfield who needs to be deployed in a double pivot.
This article was originally published on www.paininthearsenal.com as Forget Guimaraes and Timber: 55-touch star made the biggest point to Mikel Arteta vs Lille .
