Myles Lewis-Skelly has made 10 appearances in the Premier League. In two of those, he has puffed out his chest and decided to challenge Erling Haaland. Firstly in September, when he squared up to the Manchester City striker on his senior debut. And then again this weekend, when he imitated Haaland’s trademark celebration after scoring in Arsenal’s 5-1 thrashing of the champions.
It is certainly a bold and brash approach for a teenager to take, against the most feared striker in the division and the winner of back-to-back Golden Boots. In playground terms, Lewis-Skelly is the new lad who, on his first day of school, has called out the biggest kid on the block.
Such chutzpah does not sit well with everyone. Haaland responded to it in September by asking “who the f--- are you?”, while on Sunday night social media was littered with fans of other clubs questioning how a youngster as inexperienced as Lewis-Skelly could dare to challenge a player of Haaland’s stature.
These sniping comments miss the point. Lewis-Skelly’s “football antics”, as Declan Rice described them, are not aimed at supporters of Liverpool, City or any other club. They are designed for Arsenal, as a team and a fanbase, and this sort of impudence is what the club has been craving for years.
In many ways, it is a similar debate to the one which followed the feisty 2-2 draw between Arsenal and City in September. On that occasion, Arsenal were criticised for their style of play, as they responded to a red card by flying into tackles and defending deep in their own box. For years, they had been accused of being too soft on the pitch – and then they were suddenly accused of being too nasty.
On this occasion, the underlying accusation is that Arsenal are not showing appropriate deference to more successful opponents. Such a suggestion will prompt derisive laughter from the Arsenal supporters, who spent the best part of two decades watching their team roll over when they faced the biggest teams.
Indeed, there were few grumbles from other clubs when Arsenal were routinely thumped by the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and City over the past 15 years. The suggestion then was that Arsenal knew their place, as contenders for the top four but nothing more.
In those days, in the latter years of Arsene Wenger, under Unai Emery and at the start of Mikel Arteta’s tenure, plenty of people within the club (and the squad) agreed that fourth place probably was Arsenal’s rightful position. An inferiority complex became deeply embedded in Arsenal’s psyche.
One of the great successes under Arteta has been Arsenal’s ability to shake off that psychological block. Lewis-Skelly, in the space of just a few months, has come to embody their newfound and much-needed boldness. He has come into a team that believes it is capable of defeating any opponent, no matter how many titles they have won, and he has embraced that mentality.
Almost two years have now passed since Arsenal last lost a Premier League match against one of the traditional ‘big six’ sides. That is a run of 18 matches without defeat in the biggest games, home and away. No wonder a player like Lewis-Skelly is willing to be punchy. Since, he became involved in the first-team picture, his team has never lost one of these heavyweight clashes.
Might he and Arsenal live to regret their goading of City and Haaland? Of course. Arteta’s side, after all, fell short in back-to-back title races with City over the past two seasons and are currently trailing Liverpool by six points.
But they are no longer afraid to back themselves, to meet the toughest opponents and to challenge the best players in the league. The celebrations of Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel Magalhaes might not earn the affection of many neutrals but they are the ultimate proof that Arsenal have finally found a swagger and self-confidence that was missing for so long.
