Arsenal’s “scary” 8/10 star was a “beast” vs Monaco - sportsnewsfoot

It wasn’t a flawless performance, but Arsenal more than steadied the ship with their Champions League win over Monaco last night.

Mikel Arteta’s side were almost perfect in the first half, and had the likes of Gabriel Martinelli or Gabriel Jesus been at the races, they could’ve gone in with a three or four-goal lead at half-time.

Fortunately, while the Ligue 1 side offered more of a threat in the second half, the Gunners pounced on mistakes and lapses in concentration to extend their lead and eventually ended the game at a canter.

While several players put in good performances for the North Londoners, two really stood out, one of which was, of course, Bukayo Saka.

Bukayo Saka’s game vs Monaco

Yes, Arsenal’s talismanic winger once again stepped up and led from the front in a Champions League game and was entirely deserving of his Man of the Match award.

The Hale End icon was a threat throughout the encounter, opening the scoring in the first half, doubling the lead in the second half, and then providing the assist for Kai Havertz’s effort in the closing moments to secure all three points.

Unsurprisingly, the mercurial number seven seriously impressed football.london’s chief Arsenal writer, Kaya Kaynak, who awarded him an 8/10 match rating at full-time and praised him for producing ‘the difference-making moments’ for the team.

The 23-year-old’s statistics from the game more than justify the praise he received after the game as well.

In his 93 minutes of action, the sensational winger produced a combined expected goal and assists figure of 0.48, took two shots on target, had one shot blocked, took 48 touches, played three key passes, was accurate in 100% of his long balls, created one big chance and made three interceptions and two tackles.

Overall, it was an utterly superb performance from someone who is now his team’s most important player, although there was another starter who was arguably just as impressive, albeit for a slightly different reason: Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Myles Lewis-Skelly’s game vs Monaco

Yes, the Gunners’ other stand-out performer from last night’s brilliant win was undoubtedly Lewis-Skelly.

Now, it’s true that, with no goals and no assists to his name, it would be fair to say the 18-year-old was less influential on the result than Saka, but the reason his display was just as impressive is that it was his first start in the Champions League, and he looked right at home.

The Hale End graduate had to start due to the club’s current injury crisis, but from the very first minute, he looked entirely comfortable on Europe’s biggest stage, confident in defence, and decisive in attack.

For example, while Jesus played the ball across the box for Saka’s goal, he only had the opportunity to do so thanks to an incredible defence-splitting pass from the Islington-born gem, whom Arsenal podcaster Will Balsam fairly described as a “different beast” for a similar pass he played in the game against Bolton.

The exciting gem, whom former U18 coach Jack Wilshere proclaimed is capable of doing “things you can’t coach” left an impression on football.london’s Kayak as well, with the journalist awarding him an 8/10 rating and writing that he ‘showed composure beyond his years.’

Such composure is visible in some of his statistics, as he maintained a passing accuracy of 96%, took 53 touches, lost the ball just twice, completed 100% of his dribbles, won four of five ground duels, committed a single foul and won one himself.

Ultimately, it was an extremely impressive full European debut from Lewis-Skelly, and as former professional turned pundit Karen Carney said, it’s “scary how good he’ll be”.

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