The title race is intense this year in England. Racing in the lead after a fairly exceptional season, Arsenal is pursued by Manchester City, who are waiting for the slightest misstep from the Gunners to regain the leadership position. This Saturday, the two rivals played big. While the Skyblues travel to West Ham (9 p.m.), Mikel Arteta’s men played against Everton late in the afternoon. At home, the latter had no room for error after a miraculous draw against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. This Saturday, luck was again on the side of the Londoners.
Faced with a formidable Everton on the counter, Arsenal did not find the solution. Often criticized this season for having frequently found the solution on corners, Bukayo Saka’s teammates did not even find the key on set pieces this Saturday. However, Arsenal had a solution today. And the latter took the form of a 16-year-old kid named Max Dowman. Labeled as one of the great hopes of the Gunners training center, the winger came on in the 74th minute in place of Zubimendi. In just over 15 minutes, Dowman wreaked real carnage that allowed him to make history. And which allowed Arsenal to escape from the trap set by the Toffees.
Arsenal and England impressed by Max Dowman’s prowess
Very restless with his shots and constantly trying to move forward, the 16-year-old winger tried a lot. On one of his crosses, Hincapié took advantage of Pickford’s missed exit to allow the incoming Gyökeres to open the scoring at the end of the match. Already the author of an assist in six appearances this season, the Chelmsford native had the need to make history. After a final corner for Everton, the English prodigy inherited the ball before eliminating several players to race towards the empty goal and push the ball into the back of the net. With this achievement, Dowman is now the youngest goalscorer in the Premier League (at 16 years and 73 days), beating the record set by James Vaughan (16 years and 270 days), Everton player in 2005.
After the game, everyone was freaking out about Dowman’s entry. Already compared to Lamine Yamal on social networks, the number 56 of the Gunners was able to count on the laudatory words of Viktor Gyokeres after the meeting: “it’s incredible. Just see how he plays. He remains so calm and collected every time he receives the ball. He also makes the right decision most of the time, and for this purpose, he undoubtedly made the right choice. He’s an extraordinary player, it was a great goal for him and I’m really happy for him.» Having become a consultant for Sky Sports, Harry Redknapp, who has seen it happen, was also rave about the English striker: “I promise you, Arsenal were not going to win this game before they came into play. They were bogged down. They lacked energy, the public fell on them. He completely changed the game. He hasn’t even passed his high school exams yet and he’s already doing things like that, making the game look easy. I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’ve known this little boy since he was 7 years old. I remember looking at him and thinking, “There’s something different about you.» You will have understood, Arsenal and England are in full Dowman-mania this Saturday evening.
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