Unleash Max Dowman! Arsenal should start fearless teenager to inject life into Premier League title run-in

Dowman's potential has been lauded for years already. The winger was only 13 and 14 when whispers came out of the Arsenal academy that he could be the most special player they've ever produced. It's why at 16, so often an age where young players are still being protected away from the public eye, the club have sought to only embolden him. There's a very real possibility Dowman becomes a Premier League and Champions League winner before he takes his GCSEs.

In each of his nine first-team appearances for Arsenal, there's almost always been one flashbulb moment where Dowman takes the handbrake off and tries to blow by his defender. It's his modus operandi, and even though it's only yielded one goal and one assist thus far, he still manages to make his mark in an intangible sense.

Ironically, if Arsenal were the team of two or three years ago when they blew the opposition away for fun with a barrage of goals, Dowman might not be getting much of a look in. It's almost as if what sets him apart from the rest of the team's attacking options is as important as his quality in general.

That's a plus point for Dowman. He has become the 'break in case of emergency' glass. We haven't reached crisis point just yet, but when you're this close to achieving greatness and slowing down, it's worth exploring every option you've got to get over the line.

The miles on Bukayo Saka's body are almost certainly a contributing factor behind his fitness struggles over the last year. He has already played 353 games for club and country by the age of 24. His importance to Arsenal means he is only usually afforded a rest when he has a legitimate injury concern.

Since undergoing surgery on his hamstring at the start of 2025, Saka has also lost a yard of pace. It's not as if he was one to skip past players on quickness alone anyway, but when the opposition are routinely sending double and triple teams your way, it's handy to have a quick burst of acceleration to rely upon sometimes.

It's most likely the reason why Saka's shot and goal numbers in the Premier League have gone down. Across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, Saka averaged 3.4 shots per 90 minutes, rounding to to 0.4 goals per 90. Those have come down to 2.8 shots and 0.27 goals this term.

Saka's minutes need to be taken care of and managed appropriately. If Arsenal up his workload too sharply again, then he risks missing the end of the season, and maybe even the World Cup.

In the absence of Saka, Arteta has tended to use Noni Madueke as the right winger. The point of bringing in the England international from Chelsea was to ease the load on Saka in the first place, but now he too is in danger of entering the dreaded 'red zone'.

Arsenal's 11 withdrawals from international duty during March were legitimate concerns. That Saka even turned up to the Three Lions' St George's Park training base yet hasn't featured in the Gunners' two games since suggests he made that journey knowing he was going to be sent away again as soon as possible. So much of Arteta's squad is on its last legs.

It's not merely a luxury for them to be able to call upon a wonderkid like Dowman, but more and more appearing a necessity. Arsenal need to maintain momentum and fend off any concerns brought about by injury pile-ups.

Arsenal will go into the next round of Premier League fixtures nine points clear at the top, though title rivals Manchester City do have a game in hand still to play, while the Gunners' visit to the Etihad Stadium next weekend presents an interesting wrinkle too.

For a couple of months, Arteta's men have crawled their way to points, and that's only partly by design. The stodgy, set-piece heavy way of playing isn't meant to result in games which are more or less on a knife-edge and decided by one or two key moments, rather make them an imperious juggernaut at both ends of the pitch.

It's a plan that has had flaws. In their 24 games since the turn of the year, Arsenal have both played well and won in about 10 of them, at a stretch. Does this matter so long as they are actually ending these matches as the victors? Well, yes and no.

Arteta's philosophy is simultaneously keeping Arsenal pushing forward and holding them back. Their willingness to play within the margins means they won't always win, but due to superior player quality they usually do. It's a dangerous game, the biggest reason why they are both so far clear in the Premier League and why there is a sense of dread with each remaining fixture. The product has to improve to give the players and fans more reasons to believe in what they are doing.

Nine senior games is not a mighty sample size to judge a player off of, but Dowman is a special case. Sometimes a teenager comes along who is simply too talented not to throw in at the deep end. The nine matches he's played to this point could be the bedding-in period Dowman's needed just to acclimatise to men's football.

It's interesting that Jack Wilshere, speaking from the perfect position as one of Arsenal's last great academy products and a previous coach of Dowman, thinks he is ready to play for England, if only because Spain took Barcelona's Lamine Yamal to Euro 2024 when he too was 16.

"The only thing I would say is, Spain would take him. That's what I think," Wilshere recently told The Telegraph. "We have this way at times in England of building them up but then protecting them. You get caught in that [place]: 'If he goes what will people say?' He [Dowman] is definitely good enough. Even if he goes and he doesn't play that much. Which I think he can. I think he is good enough.

"He is going to be there eventually. I understand people saying, 'Maybe not'. But I also think Yamal went as a 16-year-old [to Euro 2024] and he was the best player in the tournament."

The phrase 'if you're good enough, you're old enough' rings true in the case of Dowman. This hype isn't unjustified. At the rate he's growing, there's bound to be another iconic moment for him to deliver before the season is out.

Having become the youngest scorer in Premier League history heading into last month's international break, it was almost a certainty that Thomas Tuchel was going to be quizzed on Dowman's England prospects.

"With these young guys, of course we know all these players. We see them as you do as well. At the moment I think he is in a good place to fight for his minutes at Arsenal. We always have the chance to call him maybe up for the World Cup," he said of Dowman.

"The thing with young players to keep the momentum maybe going, keep their excitement. They have a level of fearlessness with them. There is no need to call him up now and increase the pressure and increase all the noise that comes with it but we have all options."

Tuchel, an experienced and successful manager at club level, didn't completely dismiss the idea that a 16-year-old could command a spot in one of the World Cup favourites' squad. That speaks to how highly he must rate Dowman to keep that door ajar just enough that a strong end to 2025-26 could see his season extended into the summer.

There will be an urge from Arteta to throw Saka straight back into the starting XI when Bournemouth visit the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, but that could easily turn out to be a mistake. Andoni Iraola has made the Cherries one of the Premier League's best pressing outfits and a clever, cunning team out of possession. They even managed to earn a 2-1 win away at Arsenal last season between the Gunners' Champions League semi-final legs with Paris Saint-Germain.

There's no need to risk Saka's health any further when Dowman is chomping at the bit for more first-team opportunities, particularly in the Premier League. A win would move them 12 points clear at the top before Man City travel to Chelsea on Sunday, piling the pressure back on Pep Guardiola's men. Arteta must put trust in those who are healthy and ready.

Arsenal are on the cusp of immortality. They're so close to the finish line. They cannot let Dowman's age be what determines whether they are able to freshen up the squad or not.

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