Lewis-Skelly ´a joy to watch´ says Arteta after Arsenal´s Champions League win

Mikel Arteta described Arsenal’s 18-year-old full-back Myles Lewis-Skelly as a “joy to watch” after he impressed in their comprehensive 3-0 Champions League win over Monaco.

At the age of 18 years and 76 days, Lewis-Skelly became the youngest player to start a Champions League game for Arsenal since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain versus Olympiakos in 2011 (18 years, 44 days).

His inclusion owed to injuries keeping Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu out, while Jakub Kiwior was required to deputise at centre-back and Jurrien Timber was limited to a place on the bench.

He made the most of his opportunity, though, completing 45 of his 47 passes attempted (96%).

That gave him the highest pass accuracy by an Arsenal teenager in a Champions League match (minimum 25 passes) since Johan Djourou versus Hamburg in September 2006 (97%) – the month in which Lewis-Skelly was born.

“A really proud moment,” Arteta said of Lewis-Skelly’s display. “He is one of our own and a joy to watch. It’s great we can trust him to play in this environment.”

On Arsenal’s general performance, he added: “In the first half we should have put the game to bed but we didn’t.

“In the Champions League you will have difficult moments and we suffered. Then with the second goal the game was under control.”

Arsenal sit third in the 36-team Champions League table with two group-phase games remaining, ahead of facing Dinamo Zagreb and Girona next month.

Monaco, meanwhile, are 16th with 10 points after suffering back-to-back Champions League defeats.

“First of all, a deserved victory for Arsenal. Too many gifts from our side, it’s not acceptable at this level,” visiting coach Adi Hutter said.

“I was happy with the first 20 minutes and also until the second goal. The second half was really brave, but in the end there were too many big mistakes.”