Myles Lewis-Skelly will be suspended when Arsenal travel to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, but he could play for the u18s instead.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side don’t have much time to mope about their defeat to West Ham United on Saturday, as they travel to high-flying Nottingham Forest in midweek.
But Myles Lewis-Skelly won’t be involved in Wednesday’s match, as his red card against the Hammers means a one-game suspension.
Lewis-Skelly would have received an automatic two-game ban for his second red card of the season, if his previous sending-off hadn’t been overturned.
Fortunately it was, so he’ll be available for both the Champions League matches in March as well as the big-six clashes with Manchester United and Chelsea.
In the meantime, Lewis-Skelly will be unavailable to Arteta for the next nine days, which raises an interesting question about his possible involvement with the Arsenal u18s.
Despite being a regular first-team player at the moment, Lewis-Skelly is still young enough to play for Arsenal in the FA Youth Cup.
The young Gunners play their quarter-final against Manchester United on Friday, and the expectation was that Lewis-Skelly would be unavailable due to the game against Forest two days earlier.
But that’s no longer the case, and Arsenal don’t play again until the following Tuesday. Hypothetically, he’s available for selection.
It wouldn’t be the first time a player had dropped down to the youth teams after a red card. When Fabio Vieira was sent off against Burnley in 2023, he dropped down to the u21s for an EFL Trophy game against Reading three days later.
The u18s could certainly use the help from Lewis-Skelly. It’s probably just a question of whether featuring in the match would affect his preparations for the following Champions League tie. If so, you’d imagine he’ll just get the week off matches.