‘Incredible’ Arsenal star tipped for brutal axing as Arteta shows ruthless streak vs Atletico

Myles Lewis-Skelly will likely end up being brutally axed and dropped back down to the Arsenal bench for Tuesday’s crunch Champions League semi-final clash with Atletico Madrid, according to former Premier League striker Darren Bent.

After an outstanding breakthrough campaign in north London, the 19-year-old has found game time tough to come by this season, with Piero Hincapie sharing the left-back role with Riccardo Calafiori.

However, he was handed a rare start in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Fulham, with Mikel Arteta freshening up his Arsenal squad ahead of the Atletico return leg, and using Lewis-Skelly in his preferred central midfield role for the first time ever.

The England international, who continues to be linked with a big-money move to Manchester United, rewarded his manager’s faith with a sublime performance against a decent Fulham side.

Indeed, speaking after the match, the Gunners boss told reporters: “He’s been showing in training every day the opportunities that he had to play. He’s done it and today he really stepped up and I thought he had an incredible performance.”

However, Bent fears Lewis-Skelly’s display will not be enough to sway Arteta’s mind over bringing Martin Zubimendi back into the fold, despite the Spaniard’s struggles in the second half of the season.

The former Tottenham striker told Premier League Live: “Zubimendi will probably come back in because he’s the more senior player.

“But I think the manager will be looking at his performance today thinking do you know what if a game’s going on against Atletico and it’s not quite working, he’ll have no doubts whatsoever. He knows he’s good enough to play in there, go and play.

“I understand Zubimendi’s been outstanding this season, maybe he’s faltered a bit of late.

“But Myles Lewis-Skelly, that’s not just a normal performance where you go he did OK, he did alright. He is capable of playing there, that was a top-level performance.”

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Lewis-Skelly ticks some big Arteta boxes

Despite the fact that he is set for disappointment this week, Bent feels that Lewis-Skelly did more than enough in the Fulham clash for Arteta to call on him again for a midfield role before the season ends.

He added: “I genuinely think Mikel Arteta will be looking at that thinking if he doesn’t play against Atletico, he could definitely play against West Ham.

“I think it’s important to have the right players and environment around him. Putting him alongside the likes of Declan and Eberechi Eze is key.

“I think Declan will always talk to him. He had Mark Noble for him when he got in that West Ham team.

“I think it was the perfect environment, the perfect opposition in terms of a team that wasn’t really going to press, although I thought they’d be better. He was just outstanding today.

“All the little bits he had to do, breaking up play, passing the ball forwards. That was the key, too often in the last few weeks we’ve seen Arsenal players pass the buck and go backwards.

“That then allows the team to get back into shape and then it’s hard to break down.

“The moment Lewis-Skelly got it he was on the half-term then boom, where’s Saka, where’s Eze, where’s Trossard.

“Then when you’ve beaten that press early Arsenal can play in the areas they want.”