Mikel on why he switched Lewis-Skelly to left-back

There was derby day delight for Myles Lewis-Skelly on Wednesday as he produced another fantastic performance at left-back.

The 18-year-old has demonstrated calmness and composure beyond his years since breaking through to the first team this season, and Mikel Arteta has unsurprisingly been impressed.

Our manager was asked about our Hale End Academy graduate in his pre-Aston Villa press conference on Friday, and whether he was involved in changing Myles’ position from midfield to left-back.

“When I saw him, to give him a chance and with the project that we had in the academy the moment that I saw him, the only way I could think was to change his position,” he explained. “I spoke to him and said I think this is where you’re going to have it, because I think it fits a lot of his qualities, the way that we play and it fits because we had necessities in the position, so we started to work on that.

“He got into it straight away with the personality that he has. I think it’s very obvious and now he’s doing it.”

Myles was one of the youngsters to get the chance to make an impression on our first team in pre-season before going on to make his Premier League debut away to Manchester City. Since then he has continued to grow in stature and confidence, and it's reflected in his performances. Mikel feels that's down to a continued education on his new role.

“Adapting to the role is not just on the defensive part,” Mikel said, discussing the progress Myles has made. “I think physically, they’re very different demands. You’re facing wingers a lot of times in that position. You have to be part of that defensive line. You have to know when to release, when to not, when it’s on your side how you have to defend the box - something that he wasn’t used to.

“Then all the attacking processes on top of that, so it’s quite a lot. He’s dealing with that in a great way. Physically as well he’s matured a lot in the last year or so and it was another great performance.”