Lewis-Skelly marks England bow with historic goal

Myles Lewis-Skelly had an England debut to remember as he opened the scoring in the Three Lions’ 2-0 win against Albania at Wembley.

Having received his first call-up to the senior squad last week, Myles was handed a starting berth by new manager Thomas Tuchel and wasted little time in making his mark at international level as he got on the scoresheet just 20 minutes into the 2026 World Cup qualifier.

Jude Bellingham collected the ball in midfield and threaded the ball behind a deep visiting defence, and Myles brushed off the challenge of Jasir Asani to slip the ball through goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha’s legs and bag the first goal of the Tuchel era.

Speaking straight after the game to ITV, Myles said: "I'm lost for words really. I'm just so grateful for the manager to put trust in me and also my teammates. They paid me so much trust today and I'm so happy. The fans made me feel at home, so thank you to them."

That was a piece of English national team history as Myles became the youngest player to net on his Three Lions debut, aged just 18 years and 176 days, surpassing Marcus Rashford's record of 18 years and 209 days when he scored against Australia in May 2016. In fact, only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have been younger and scored for the country.

The Hale End graduate, who only made his Gunners first-team debut back in September at Manchester City, becomes the 71st Arsenal player to represent the full England men’s team, continuing a tradition which began with Jimmy Ashcroft in 1906.

After Myles’ incredible debut, 31 of those have an England goal to their name, but just three others have done it on their debut - Ted Drake against Italy in 1934, Alfred Kirchen against Norway three years later and Francis Jeffers on what was his only cap against Australia in 2003.

Only one player plying their trade for us at the time has won a cap at a younger age than him, which was Theo Walcott in a World Cup 2006 warm-up match against Hungary when he became his country's youngest-ever player - a record that still stands.

Also included in the starting line-up on Myles' big day was Decan Rice who won his 63rd cap, and he grabbed an assist for the all-important second goal. His pass found Harry Kane on 77 minutes, and the captain swept the ball into the bottom corner. Declan was withdrawn five minutes later, while Myles played 90 minutes before being taken off just before stoppage-time for a warm reception from the home crowd.

Declan was also full of praise for his Gunners teammate, adding: "He's fearless. He does everything right off the pitch. He prepares himself. He's only 18, I try to look after him as best I can but I knew he was going to play like that tonight because of the confidence he has in himself and the way he's trained all week and what I've seen at the club.

"His mum, his dad, his brothers, everyone should be so proud of him because his rise this year has been unreal and he's kept his feet on the ground. This is only the start for him so he's got to keep going."

The pair will now be in line to take on Latvia next Monday at Wembley as Tuchel aims to kick off the qualifying campaign with two wins from two.