Arsenal legend Ian Wright has urged Mikel Arteta to turn to Myles Lewis-Skelly again after his snub in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
After a breakout campaign for club and country last season, Lewis-Skelly has been the forgotten man at Arsenal this season. The 19-year-old has started just one Premier League match having not made a single appearance in the league since early January.
When Riccardo Calafiori is not available, Arteta has frequently turned to Piero Hincapie to fill in at left-back, leaving the teenager third-choice in the position he excelled in a year ago. Lewis-Skelly was again overlooked on Sunday at Wembley, failing to come off the bench as he watched Nico O’Reilly win the game for City.
This time last year, Lewis-Skelly was starring for Arsenal in their Champions League quarter-final clashes with Real Madrid.
Recalling those performances, Wright believes the youngster’s ability to come inside and help build from the back could have changed things for Arsenal last Sunday and is eager to see him play a more prominent role in the season run-in.
‘I’ve mentioned Myles Lewis-Skelly when he played against Real Madrid last time, had an unbelievable game,’ Wright told The Overlap.
‘Then he’s kind of been dropped back out of it, and I’m thinking in that game, on Sunday, a left-back who can invert what we need is somebody comfortable on the ball.
‘That’s the game he should be playing in, because then he’s somebody who can get on the ball, and at least we can link.’
Asked by Gary Neville about Lewis-Skelly now being third-choice, Wright added: ‘There’s no way, Myles Lewis-Skelly, the way he started his career, he hasn’t got the capability to go on and do… I’m not saying he’s gonna do exactly what O’Reilly’s done, but the confidence it gives him in playing is going be a lot probably more confident than he is right now.
‘He can’t get into the team at the moment, whether it’s behind Hincapie or if it’s behind Calafiori. This guy is a footballer. We needed a footballer on Sunday, and those are the things that I’m sitting there watching us do, watching us do nothing.
‘I’m thinking to myself, if the Arsenal fans saw someone like him come on and do a couple of things, everybody, it gets us going, it gets people going again. That’s a disappointment for me.’
Lewis-Skelly signed a new long-term contract last year but has been linked with a move to Manchester United as a long-term replacement for Luke Shaw.