Lewis-Skelly gave hints of his confidence and personality in those angry verbal exchanges at Etihad Stadium. Since then, he has shown he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
He oozes self-belief and settled lingering Arsenal nerves with his powerful 62nd minute strike, although Manchester City keeper Stefan Ortega should have done much better than help it in.
And how he revelled in the deserved standing ovation he was given when he came off after 88 minutes.
Lewis-Skelly’s emergence fills a potential problem position at left-back for Arsenal. New England head coach Thomas Tuchel, also thin on options in that area, will have him under the microscope too.
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 and Myles was certainly one of them with the maturity he showed and the competitiveness as well. On top of that he scores a goal.
“Ethan comes in and plays with that personality as well and scored a beautiful goal. He has been pushing us since he has been with us. We really like the character, the personality. He has got so much courage.
“He is very prepared, very intelligent and has qualities to fit in the way we want to play. He earned the right to get respected by the team-mates. He got some minutes and is asking for more. Even when competition is high he deserves to play.”
Lewis-Skelly’s contribution was so vital because this was effectively a “must-win” game for Arsenal, even at this stage of the season. Defeat was certainly unthinkable as it would have left them nine points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, having played a game more.
Arsenal will feel a gap of six points is still something they can reel in. The manner and margin of this win against Manchester City will strengthen that feeling.
It was a win that extended their unbeaten league run to 14 games, suggesting that if Liverpool falter, they are there to step in.
As Lewis-Skelly made his way off in triumph with the credits rolling on this statement win, Arsenal’s fans declared him to be “one of our own”.
Arsenal may just have a superstar in the making in the youngster who helped to keep their Premier League title challenge on track.
The final insult to Haaland and Manchester City came after the final whistle as the strains of Kendrick Lamar’s Humble played over the stadium public address system.
If Arsenal follow their own advice, this may yet be a Premier League title race to remember.
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