Dermot Gallagher: Arsenal's appeal against Dowman red card will fail
Former referee Dermot Gallagher says Arsenal's challenge against Max Dowman's dismissal in the Carabao Cup loss to Fleetwood Town is doomed, as the 16-year-old serves a three-match ban.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes Arsenal's appeal against Max Dowman's red card will fail, arguing the teenager's conduct during the Carabao Cup defeat to Fleetwood Town was aggressive enough to warrant the dismissal, according to Sky Sports Football's Ref Watch column.
Dowman was sent off during Arsenal's shock exit from the competition, becoming the youngest player ever dismissed in a League Cup match at 16 years and 300 days, Guardian Sport reported.
Mikel Arteta's response on the touchline drew almost as much attention as the sending-off itself. The Guardian's Ed Aarons described the Arsenal manager standing with his arms folded as Dowman walked off, before leaning in to say something to the forward as he headed down the tunnel.
What exactly Arteta said has not been confirmed, though it did not stop amateur lip-readers offering their own interpretations on social media. Among the guesses circulating, according to the Guardian, was the line: "Get in the changing room. Now."
Dowman is now serving a three-match suspension as a result of the sending-off, Yahoo Sports reported in an opinion piece examining the fallout from the incident.
The Yahoo column argued that the dismissal followed a passage of play in which Dowman was provoked by what he felt was an overly aggressive tackle, but noted that the ball was out of play at the time and that he had made a movement with his leg towards an opponent, meaning he could not claim to have been playing the ball.
The piece drew a comparison with the World Cup sendings-off of David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, suggesting that, as in those cases, some might argue the player punished was not the original aggressor.
It also framed the episode as part of Dowman's development, arguing that referees cannot factor in a player's age when applying the laws of the game, and that Arteta was right not to treat his teenage midfielder differently from senior squad members despite the circumstances.
The suspension arrives at a point when Dowman had been given a chance to press his case for more regular involvement, with Bukayo Saka sidelined through injury creating an opening in Arsenal's forward areas, Yahoo Sports noted.
Arsenal have lodged their appeal against the red card, but Gallagher's assessment leaves the club facing the prospect of Dowman completing his three-match ban in full rather than having it overturned.