Jeremie Aliadiere believes Mikel Arteta cannot drop Myles Lewis-Skelly and Viktor Gyokeres after their recent performances in an Arsenal shirt.
Lewis-Skelly has spent much of this season watching from the sidelines, but was superb last weekend when handed a first-ever start in cntral midfield against Fulham.
The teenager maintained his place in the side for the midweek Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid and again impressed alongside Declan Rice as the Gunners sealed a 2-1 aggregate win.
Martin Zubimendi has done little wrong in his maiden season at the Emirates, but former Arsenal striker Aliadiere believes the Spaniard may be watching from the bench for the final weeks of the season if Lewis-Skelly can continue his recent form in central midfield.
‘How do you tell Myles now that he’s going to sit on the bench?’ Aliadiere told Metro. ‘It looks like if he carries on, he’ll probably go in and start in the final and play the last two games in the Premier League.
‘I must say, when I saw he was starting again against Atletico, I thought that was a bit of a risk from Mikel. If Atletico are putting a lot of pressure and don’t give him much space, is he going to be able to cope?
‘He hasn’t played a lot this season, but he was sensational again. At such a young age, to have the ability and the self-belief, confidence to just take the ball in tight spaces against world-class players in such a pressure game.
Get personalised football updates every day
Sign up to our daily football newsletter and choose your team to get the latest news, rumours and more about your favourite team.
‘I was really impressed with his performance and he deserved it. When you’re patient and wait for your time and you get your opportunity like that, it can quickly go the other way because you’re not match fit, you’re not ready, you’ve been frustrated for so long not playing. But it was none of that.
‘It was just, no problem, you need me now, I’ll perform for you, I’ll perform for the club. And now it looks like he’s probably going to start the next few games because he’s been so good in those two games.’
It has been a similarly positive week for Gyokeres, who delivered perhaps his best performance in an Arsenal shirt against Atletico off the back of a brace against Fulham last weekend.
And while Kai Havertz’s return from injury gives Arteta another option at the top of the pitch, Aliadiere believes Arsenal look a far more potent team when the Swede starts and they play to his strenghts.
Speaking via Casino Guru, a comparison site where players can compare the top 100 online casinos in the UK, he added: ‘I’ve just got a feeling that the players have started recognising what he’s capable of doing and started playing to his strengths.
‘I’ve always said, those runs have been there from the beginning, he’s never stopped making those runs, but the ball was not coming quick enough. So he ended up having to fight with two, three defenders in a very, very tight space.
‘Now suddenly, and maybe it’s due to Myles coming in the team as a midfielder, suddenly you get ball coming forward much quicker, and suddenly Victor gets 1v1 with defenders in the space of like 20, 45 metres. And it’s like, now I can bully the defender.
‘And even his link-up play, he holds the ball well, but now he is releasing it very quickly to Bukayo a few times when makes the run. And it’s such fluent football, it’s brilliant to watch.
‘But I do feel the team are starting to believe in Victor, and start really thinking, we’ve got a top player here, we need to utilise him. I’m enjoying us wanting to play forwards. So, yes, it’s been refreshing. The last two games have been really good.’
‘I can’t see the team changing at the weekend. I think the last two performances, we’ve seen great individual performance, but I think as a team, we look much more refreshed and more dangerous.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.