If Arsenal go on to win the league, Max Dowman’s introduction against Everton will forever be associated with it. With Arsenal struggling to break down an obdurate Everton side and missing the technical quality of Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard, Mikel Arteta didn’t make a like for like change or bring on Gabriel Jesus: he sprung for Dowman.
The question now is whether he’ll continue to do so. Arteta has already shown immense trust in Dowman and a belief that he is the best option: Dowman came on when Arsenal were trailing at Anfield in August, and he chose Dowman again in a high pressure moment on Saturday. But if Dowman’s role were to expand, there is a space for him in the team.
When young players making a breakthrough, there is always temptation to see them once and declare they are good enough. But as Myles Lewis-Skelly has shown this season, young players go through patchy form, as the opposition adjust and players, who often starred throughout youth football, face setbacks for the first time. Dowman won’t always score, as he did on Saturday; there is the chance that his appearance is defined by a miss, as it could’ve been as he missed a half-decent chance. But he kept going and created Arsenal’s winner.
One of the more intriguing aspects of Arsenal’s 2-1 win at Mansfield Town two weekends ago was not only Dowman’s performance, but the position he played. Thus far, we’ve mostly seen Dowman on the right, including against Everton. But Dowman is also capable of playing through the middle, which is where, with Madueke, Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard all starting, he played against Mansfield Town.
Throughout the game, he switched with Madueke, especially on counter attacks. Dowman carried the ball effectively, completing 4 out of 7 dribbles, while winning 7 of 12 ground duels. In terms of a 10 he was more Eze than Ødegaard, with the latter relying on lots of touches and passes and the former being more of a ball carryer. But where Dowman did emulate the Arsenal skipper was in his propensity to drop deep and collect the ball, reducing the load on the Arsenal pivot—Nørgaard and Trossard to begin with in possession and then Nørgaard and Havertz—to pass him the ball. Finally, another significant difference with Eze was that Dowman was comfortable in the right of centre role, which Eze always looks a little uncomfortable, preferring the left.
This is a vacuum that Ødegaard’s frequent absences this season has left. It’s surely had an impact on Bukayo Saka, especially his numbers, and it’s had an impact on the quality of how Arsenal play.
With man-marking in vogue, Arsenal, more than ever, need a player who can quickly combine and carry the ball from back to front. They need someone who can intelligently fill spaces on the inside right. More often than not, that space is being filled by William Saliba. That is in part because man-marking systems lead to him being the spare man but also because Arsenal have a paucity of creative players to play on the inside right.
There is room in the team, and Dowman, who got the ball more than any other player in his appearance against Everton, has shown he’s comfortable getting the ball under pressure. Arsenal are lacking in magic moments in part because some players, like Saka, are in poor form, and some, like Ødegaard have had injury issues. With each game essentially a cup final, all Arsenal need to do over the next 7 games is get over the line. Whether from the start, though unlikely, or from the bench, Max Dowman could give them a higher chance of doing so.