With Wolves playing at late kickoff, the Gunners will look to go four points ahead at the top of the table and put further pressure on Manchester City.
They have a fully fit team from which to pick. Notwithstanding the significance of the match, Arteta took a surprising step in his preparations by offering 14-year-old Dowman an opportunity to shine against the club’s more experienced players.
Although Dowman is technically only an Under-14 player, he is already light years ahead of his contemporaries and has made an impact this season for Arsenal’s Under-18 team.
In his five games at that level thus far, the talented midfielder has tallied five assists and one goal. In one game last month against Fulham, Dowman contributed four of those assists, earning high appreciation from his coach and former Arsenal player Jack Wilshere.
“Fielding a young player in these matches always raises questions, but if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” the player stated.
Though he is only 14 and hasn’t yet begun his GCSEs, he has the potential to be more reliable. Given his age, we need to strike a balance between giving him plenty of freedom to play and enjoy himself and attempting to put as much effort as possible into him.
Since Dowman has already played for the Under-16 team and made an impression at the Football Federations Cup, he is also very much on England’s radar.
If Dowman plays against the Cherries, which is highly doubtful, he will beat the record of his colleague Ethan Nwaneri, who made his debut at the age of 15 years and 181 days and become by far the youngest player in Premier League history.
Whether Timber was ready to contribute after missing almost the whole season due to a knee injury he sustained on opening day, Arteta remarked, “We won’t know until we throw him in.”
With just three games remaining and eight months of football missed, things may become complicated. Since he has only played 50 minutes of football with the under-21 team, the only way to answer this question is to put him on the field and watch what transpires. We need to work hard at making that choice.