Declan Rice branded Myles Lewis-Skelly ‘ridiculous’ and ‘scary’ after his impressive performance in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Tottenham on Wednesday evening.
Mikel Arteta’s side have closed the gap behind Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points as they came from behind to secure victory in the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium.
Son Heung-min opened the scoring for Tottenham but Arsenal were level after the ball deflected into the net off Dominic Solanke from a corner. Leandro Trossard then struck shortly before half time to put the Gunners in front.
Meanwhile, Lewis-Skelly was one of the standout performers for Arteta’s side and the 18-year-old’s progression has been described by Rice as ‘unbelievable’.
‘The young boy Myles again is just unbelievable, for 18 what he showed tonight is just ridiculous,’ Rice told TNT Sports after Arsenal’s win.
‘It’s scary, the 18-year-olds now have got no fear, they’ve got no fear whatsoever.
‘I think there were four or five times in the second half, he’s got that Moussa Dembele trait, he uses his body to get away from stuff. Sometimes, yeah, it’s risky but to show that at 18 and the personality and character, honestly, it’s unbelievable.
‘Do you know what as well, I’m going to mention them because they’re Spurs players but Archie Gray and [Lucas] Bergvall, they’re both 18 as well and they’re playing week in, week out, Mikey Moore, there’s guys in the Prem now who are playing and they are younger and younger and they’ve got no fear, it’s so good to see.’
Asked about Lewis-Skelly’s chances of securing a place in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad, Rice replied: ‘He is a midfielder by trade, he can play No.6, No.8, obviously he’s come into the team and played left-back, it suits him coming inside.
‘To know these roles and to understand what he’s learning now at 18, it’s unbelievable, it’s only going to stand him in good stead.
‘Who knows what England holds for him, I know they think highly of him there. There’s a lot of competition for places all over the pitch for England, we all need to keep performing for the new manager.’
Arteta was also highly complementary of Lewis-Skelly’s performance against Spurs.
‘Unbelievable… he was phenomenal today, I think,’ Arteta said.
‘He has a real personality, he has so much trust in himself, he has an attitude about him.
‘You have to play against [Dejan] Kulusevski and [Brennan] Johnson here is not easy, the way he handled the situation and the occasion, it was top, I think.’
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