Declan Rice hails MOTM Lewis-Skelly as unbelievable, says: ‘We were probably unlucky that we didn’t score 10 Vs Spurs’

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has hailed Miles Lewis-Skelly as unbelievable after the 18-year-old Arsenal defender was named the official man of the match in the Gunners’ 2-1 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates stadium on Wednesday night.

Making his fourth start in his seventh appearance for Arsenal, Lewis-Skelly made 93.8% pass completion for an 18-year-old in a game high more on emotions

Rice was full of praise for the former Arsenal U19 star.

“The young boy Miles [Lewis-Skelly] was unbelievable. For 18 years of age to be playing how he is… It is just ridiculous. The young players now have no fear, none whatsoever.

‘Four or five times in the second half he used his body to get away from someone. He has that Moussa Dembele type strength. It is risky but to show that personality and character at 18 is unbelievable,’ said Rice in a post-match interview with the BBC.

The Arsenal midfielder also revealed they could have scored 10 goals in the game going by the number of chances they created.

“You can tell that tonight meant more than anything. From the first minute, the first half was pure domination. We showed the intent, the pressure, the desire, you could tell it was a derby. I think we were probably unlucky that we didn’t score 10 tonight. That is the feeling.”

“You don’t need a message. When you play Spurs, you know what it means to the fans. As a player if you can’t get up for Spurs then you shouldn’t be playing football. You need to have that fire in your belly.

“In the second half the game got stretched. They maybe could have scored a couple, but we could have got another five or six – that is the disappointing thing.

“The three points is the most important thing. Hopefully now we can go on a run because this is the most important part of the season,’ he told TNT Sports in another post-match interview.