Myles Lewis-Skelly leads Arsenal fight despite tired legs in win over Tottenham as Gunners climb to second

LONDON — Arsenal find themselves back in the title race just when they seem to lack the energy for a marathon, a sprint or even a brisk jog. It was a triumph as much on tired legs as over a Tottenham side who, for all the attacking intent of Ange Postecoglou’s second-half changes, rarely, if ever, looked like testing David Raya’s goal after Heung-min Son’s deviated debut match. It was a victory because Arsenal refused to let it be anything else, let alone the 18-year-old on their left flank.

The fightback, the game as a whole, was this season’s Arsenal writ large. Domination for long periods which resulted in chances taken and, this time, far too few shots. A set goal credited as Dominic Solanke’s own goal relied on Gabriel’s relentless will to win, as evident in him attacking Declan Rice’s corners as in him defending his penalty areas in the final moments. Leandro Trossard’s fizz at the far post was a rare moment of quality from an Arsenal striker, more often than not your response was puzzled as to how such talented players managed to convert so many touches surface area in such a short time.

Never mind. Arsenal could survive yet another night of woes due to their relentless brilliance at the other end. A goal down, Postecoglou had mixed up a pack that left him far from impressed. James Maddison and Brennan Johnson arrived with Tottenham aiming to take the lead. The sum total of this: a series of poor shots, a moment Thomas Partey and William Saliba managed to put the ball on a plate for Solanke and his shot was blocked and a shot against the post from the best angle by Pedro Porro to death.

Of course, Gabriel was at the heart of this rearguard. You knew he would be, the Dikembe Mutumbo of Premier League centre-backs. Since the start of last season, he has blocked more shots (57) than the opposition has scored (48). On Wednesday night, more shots were blocked by the big man than by David Raya, who uses his hands to do just that.

Gabriel has been stifling attacks and hitting defenses shut down for a while now. Rice also produced many fierce performances against arch-rivals Tottenham, whether in the colors of Arsenal or West Ham. However, the last time these two teams met, Myles Lewis-Skelly hadn’t even made his Premier League debut. Given the borderline hoarding of left-backs, this moment seemed distant.

Now there are questions about whether he will lose his place when Riccardo Calafiori returns from another spell of inactivity, this one likely to be brief. Lewis-Skelly’s nearly decade-long journey from academy to Arsenal’s first team may predate Arteta’s appointment, but the 18-year-old plays like a manager shaped for this coach.

A natural midfielder, his understanding of how to position his body and protect the ball belies years of being scrapped against bigger kids in the engine room.

“The young boy Myles was amazing,” Rice said. “At 18 years old, playing the way he is… It’s just ridiculous.

“Four or five times in the second half, he used his body to escape from someone. He has this strength like Moussa Dembélé.”

A comparison to one of the great midfielders of the last decade should seem ridiculous when deployed to a teenager playing at left-back. Somehow it doesn’t. Drifting around the infield, Lewis-Skelly passes the ball with precision, a feature early on this night when he first stole the ball high in Tottenham’s half before rolling it through the defense to Raheem Sterling, creating the first of many moments where Arsenal turned a favored shooting position into anything but a shot.

Beyond that, and perhaps this is why he typifies Arteta’s Arsenal so well, Lewis-Skelly fights for everything. This chance from Sterling came due to the left-back’s intention that his first action was to get in firmly but fair on his striker. Five duels saw the teenager emerge victorious on four occasions, against two of the Premier League’s in-form strikers, Dejan Kulusevski and most recently Johnson. No one recovered possession more frequently.

This fight for every inch went beyond the end of his exceptional derby debut. If he has to be replaced after an exemplary 87 minutes, you can be sure he’ll make Richarlison drag him to the nearest touchline… and then he’ll fight for his corner. Take the yellow card, if it helps the team’s cause. You could almost believe that he had trained in the “dark arts”.

“It’s very rare to see, at 18, playing for the first time against Kulusevski and Johnson in a big London derby, playing with that composure, that attitude, that emotional control,” Mikel Arteta said. “Very rare to see.

“He makes everyone at the club very proud. He has been in our system for a long time, we know the type of education the academy gives our boys to prepare themselves. We have to pick them at the time they are With him, he was ready very early and in a different position. He had never played as a full-back.

“He reacts the way he did, which is a joy to watch.”

Arteta wasn’t the only one who was delighted. The Clock End screamed with delight as he grabbed the badge in the post-match glow, with Lewis-Skelly so entranced by the moment he could have ripped the cannon straight from his chest. A bear hug from Ian Wright, the adulation of the Emirates Stadium, the glowing praise from his manager: Lewis-Skelly deserved all that and more.

In “the biggest game of the season for our people”, as Arteta said, he was ready for the fight. With tired legs all over the pitch, Arsenal needed players who could be counted on as much for their courage as their quality. Lewis-Skelly embodied exactly that.