Myles Lewis-Skelly is special! | Arsenal 1-0 Ipswich match reaction

Arsenal won, Ibswich nil. Where do we start people? Now, it was a boring game, let's be honest. It was a nothing game. There isn't really any significant talking points. But the main thing for me is, A, we kept a clean sheet. Or in fact, the most important thing is, A, we got three points. We kept a clean sheet. It's been a great festive period for us, apart from Liverpool beating Leicester. But all our other rivals and mates that support other clubs have had an unhappy festive period. So for me, I'm happy we got three points. Naturally, you know, we need to be picking up points and hope to God Liverpool have a bit of a blip. Of course, you know, Saka's injury, we're wondering, are we going to get the job done? On this occasion, Kai Havertz and Cole, after some sustained build-up play, did very well. For me, the greatest talking point for me is Lewis Skelly. You know, Lewis Skelly, whether it's his cameos against Liverpool or City, or even being thrown into games of that magnitude. Obviously, in the last couple of games, owing to the Calipheres, the Zinchenkos, the Tommy Asus, you know, everybody at left-back's been getting injuries. But this is what you need to do as a player. Step up, make an opportunity for yourself. And once you get that opportunity, grab it with both hands. And I'm loving what I'm seeing from Lewis Skelly. His consistency, which is the most important thing a young player has to add into their game. The consistency, he's growing game by game. The manager's got confidence in you. You know, in this day and age where, apologies, where you have to play a bunch of different positions, or at least really in the modern day, really most footballers, they can play two roles. And for him, you know, he's locking down that inverted left-back role. He's doing quite well. We did hear rumours in the summer the club see him as that, so he's doing good there. Obviously, being as an inverted full-back, especially in games like against Ipswich, where we're going to have the lion's share of possession, you do have to defend. And I loved it when he was getting into it with Calvin Phillips, man. You know, he probably thought Calvin Phillips was still at City, technically is. But, you know, you still go into midfield and you can't rule out him having a long-term future in midfield. The pathways are opening up. I don't know what the futures have for many players, but Jorginho and Partey's deals are running out of it where centre-mid's concerned. You could make a case of Zinchenko being moved on in the summer. You could make a case being purely devil's advocate of Tommy Assu because of the injuries, the club moving on with him. Kivio could be moved on. He's taking his opportunity. And, you know, opportunities happen, you know. Unfortunately, you get opportunities through loss of form. Sometimes a manager's having a bit of faith in you. Injuries or one or all of the things I said and multiple other stuff. So, Lewis Kelly, man of the match, doing very well. It's been a good little period from him doing his thing, looking consistent. Obviously, there's going to be games and there has been moments, you know, you look at the Liverpool equaliser, you look at definitely, I want to say Bolton, I think. It might have been Bolton in the cup. Obviously, he shows his age and he's made a couple of mistakes, like everybody in the squad. But generally, if you didn't know he obviously came from Hayley and probably doesn't have that many professional career appearances under his belt at Arsenal, you wouldn't know it purely just by watching him. So, the man's a veteran. It would have been nice to see Martinelli, Trossart, Gabriel Jesus score. But Kai made the difference. The main thing we did is win those games, because I'll be real. Owing to the festive period and the shock results, for me, I like him switch. I think McKenna's doing quite well. They play good football. Liverpool beat them earlier in the season. They made it difficult. They beat Spurs. They drew with United. They've obviously had some losses and draws, but they're a good outfit. They make it difficult for you. And with the festive period, I thought, oh, it might go a bit less. So, I'm happy we just done the job, man. We need to pick up points. We've got a lot of bumps and bruises along the road already and we've done better in some. We've got a lot of games to come, man. January's going to be a madness, really and truly. We've got Brentford away, Brighton away, a North London derby, Aston Villa, Newcastle in the cup and probably a bunch of other things. The games are coming thick and fast. We're going to have to utilise the whole squad. Evidently, clearly, we need to go into the transfer market. It's one thing talking about the left-hand side, but owing to what's happened with Bukayo Saka, the right-hand side, man. So, yeah, the main thing was the three points, which we did. It was a low-key affair. It wasn't really that much to scream and shout about or analyse, but we took care of business, professional performance and we keep it moving, man. So, yeah, that's my thoughts. Let me know yours.