‘Who are you?’ Everyone knows who Lewis-Skelly is now

The first time Myles Lewis-Skelly crossed his path, Erling Haaland demanded to know: “Who are you”?

The Arsenal teenager confronted Manchester City’s superstar striker at Etihad Stadium in September, which was unsurprising.

At the conclusion of an unsatisfying 2-2 draw at Etihad Stadium, Lewis-Skelly made headlines before he had even started a minute of Premier League football by receiving a yellow card while warming up as a substitute.

Haaland need not ask again. Lewis-Skelly, 18, inspired a 5-1 win that keeps Arsenal right in the title race – and delivered a goal celebration for the ages which appeared to be aimed right at City’s striker.

A previously unfamiliar name will now appear on the memory. After scoring his first goal for Arsenal, Lewis-Skelly kneed down and crossed his arms in the meditation celebration that Haaland himself so frequently uses.

This pure act of theatre was enjoyed by the teenager. Every second, his Arsenal team-mates gathered around to give him a break.

If Lewis-Skelly fulfills the promise he is making, it might become a household name.

He would have missed a game if his controversial red card from Wolverhampton Wanderers had not been appealed.

City must have wished the red card had been displayed.

Arsenal’s joy was in sharp contrast to City’s misery. The home fans continued to treat Haaland as the villain of the piece because they had forgotten what his “stay humble” message to manager Mikel Arteta had been in the post-game brawl in September.

All the angst here can be traced back to that meeting in September, when Arsenal almost held on to win with 10 men following Leandro Trossard’s first-half red card. With just under two minutes left, John Stones scored for Manchester City and the Gunners had to settle for a draw.

In the fallout, Guardiola ramped up the rivalry with Arsenal when he said: “You want a war? Now we war”.

Of course, this meeting was intended solely for the sport, but it ended up being a humiliating one for City, who had an alarming habit of completely collapse in the face of hardship.

City conceded four second-half goals in last month’s 4-2 Champions League defeat away to Paris St-Germain. Here, the story was comparable. Has an elite team’s performance ever completely eroded from a cliff?

The icing on the cake was added by another teenager, Ethan Nwaneri, with a sweet strike in the dying seconds, as if Arsenal had not had enough to celebrate with Lewis-Skelly once more announcing himself as one to watch.

In those enraged verbal exchanges at Etihad Stadium, Lewis-Skelly exhibited some self-assurance and personality. He has shown that he can talk the talk as well as walk the talk since then.

With his powerful 62nd-minute strike, he oozes self-assurance and eases lingering Arsenal nerves, but Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega should have done much more to stop the ball instead.

And how he honed in the deserved standing ovation he received when he left after 88 minutes.

Lewis-Skelly’s emergence fills a potential problem position at left-back for Arsenal. Thomas Tuchel, the head coach of New England, will also be looking at him closely. He also has a limited roster of options in that area.

With his maturity and his composure, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: “You need big individual performances against this Manchester City team to beat them in the manner that we have done.” Myles was undoubtedly one of them. Additionally, he scores a goal.

Ethan enters and also scores a gorgeous goal with that personality. Since joining us, he has been pushing us. We really like the character, the personality. He has got so much courage.

He “is very prepared, very intelligent, and has the qualities we need to play.” He earned the respect of his teammates. He has a few minutes and asks for more. He deserves to play, even when the competition is fierce.

Lewis-Skelly’s contribution was so vital because this was effectively a “must-win” game for Arsenal, even at this stage of the season. Without a doubt, defeat would have placed them nine points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, who had already played more.

Arsenal will still believe they can draw six points from it. That feeling will be strengthened by the manner and margin of this victory over Manchester City.

With the victory, Liverpool’s unbeaten league run reached 14 games, which suggests they are prepared to step in if they falter.

Arsenal’s fans labeled Lewis-Skelly as “one of our own” as he triumphed and the credits began to roll with the victory.

The youngster who helped keep Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge on track may be the man in the making.

After the final whistle, the strains of Kendrick Lamar’s Humble played over the stadium’s public address system, adding insults to Haaland and Manchester City.