Arsenal
Arsenal’s Protocols for Protecting 15-Year-Old Max Dowman
Arsenal have put education, security and specialist routines in place to protect 15-year-old Dowman.
Max Dowman has broken several milestones already this season. He was Arsenal’s second youngest-ever player, behind Ethan Nwaneri, when he made his first-team debut as a substitute against Leeds United in August, and he became the club’s youngest ever starter at 15 years, 302 days when he made his full debut in October. This week he became the youngest player in Champions League history after appearing in Arsenal’s win over Slavia Prague.
The club are managing his progression with clear off-field safeguards. The Gunners are hopeful of securing Dowman’s long-term future, with scholar status to be followed by a first professional contract when he turns 17 at the end of 2026. There is reported interest from rival clubs, but he remains an Arsenal supporter.
Dowman is still a legal child and remains in his final year of mandatory UK schooling. He will sit his GCSE exams next May and June. BBC Sport notes that Dowman has “study time” built into his schedule at Arsenal’s training ground to ensure his education is given the necessary attention.
Practical welfare measures are in place. Declan Rice has been asked to serve as a mentor and the youngster is provided a dedicated one-on-one member of the team’s security personnel when the squad travel to and from matches. As a minor, he does not change in the same room as Arsenal’s senior players and will dress in a separate space before joining the squad for tactical instructions and team talks from Mikel Arteta and the coaching staff. The club note that every member of the group has their own room for hotel stays, so no extra arrangements are required there.
Arteta’s approach has precedent. He used Ethan Nwaneri at a similar age and integrated Bukayo Saka into the first team soon after arriving five years ago. For the manager, age is secondary to ability. In Arteta’s view, Dowman is already at the level to command a place in the group.
Analytics & Stats
Arsenal’s defensive run equals long-standing English top-flight record
Arsenal have won eight straight games to nil, equalling an English top-flight record tracked by Opta.
Arsenal’s season has been defined by a defence operating at an exceptional level. Their set-piece prowess has drawn attention, but it is the near-impenetrability at the back that stands out: the side have conceded only three goals in all competitions this season, those strikes coming from Dominik Szoboszlai, Erling Haaland and Nick Woltemade.
A midweek Champions League shutout in Czechia — a 3–0 win over Slavia Prague — extended Arsenal’s winning streak to 10 matches in all competitions and pushed their clean-sheet run to eight successive victories. They have recorded wins to nil against Olympiacos, West Ham United, Fulham, Atlético Madrid, Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley and Slavia Prague during the sequence.
That eighth consecutive win without conceding matched the longest such run by any English top-flight club, according to Opta. Preston North End achieved the mark in 1889 and Liverpool did so in 1920. No English side had repeated the feat within the last 100 years until Arsenal reached it in 2025.
If Arsenal win and keep another clean sheet away at Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday they will set a new chapter in that history. That task is far from simple: Sunderland have scored in all their home games this season and sit fourth in the table. Still, a shutout would bring Arsenal closer to making that historical claim a reality.
On domestic clean sheets specifically, Mikel Arteta’s men are on a run of four successive league shutouts. The Premier League record is held by Manchester United, who managed 14 straight league clean sheets in 2008–09. Across all competitions Liverpool’s 11-game streak under Rafa Benítez in 2005 remains the benchmark.
Arsenal have conceded three goals in their 10 Premier League matches to date and are on course to challenge the record for fewest allowed in a season. Chelsea conceded 15 in 2004–05, breaking a previous low of 17 set by Arsenal in 1998–99.
Arsenal
Arteta Demands More After Arsenal’s 10th Consecutive Win
Arteta urged Arsenal to keep improving after a 3–0 Champions League win and club record clean sheet.
Mikel Arteta set a clear challenge after Arsenal’s 3–0 Champions League victory over Slavia Prague extended the club’s winning run to 10 matches across all competitions. The clean sheet also broke a 122-year club record, but the manager was intent on ensuring the result serves as a spur for further progress rather than celebration.
“We want more,” he said after the game. “We can still improve and do things better. That’s the right mindset to have, and we’re happy with what we’re doing. But I’m not satisfied at all, we can play better, defend better, and today we should have done some things better in the opposition half.
“It’s very tricky against them. But I’m very pleased for a lot of reasons—obviously a winning run in the Champions League without conceding a goal, at a really tough place to come.
“And we talked about being emotionally in control, and to not get frustrated when we had to play that game because we’d have the chances, the way they set up, and we certainly can look back on another very impressive performance.”
Arteta stressed that the record is a product of work and attitude. “There’s a lot of work there to achieve that. The most pleasing thing is probably not the record, it’s the mindset of the players. They are talking about how we can still do better. There was one or two situations that we could have resolved better.
“If we do that, we can keep improving and that record will have a bigger meaning.”
The manager also highlighted the debut of 15-year-old Max Dowman, who at 15 years and 308 days became the youngest player to feature in a Champions League match, beating the previous mark set by Youssoufa Moukoko at 16 years and 18 days in 2020 for Borussia Dortmund against Zenit St. Petersburg. Dowman delivered a composed 20-minute spell, winning four ground duels and drawing a couple of free-kicks.
“Yeah I didn’t know that, I just found out,” Arteta said of the age record. “But it’s no surprise. What I really liked is the way he played. He came on, started to take the ball, spread the opponent and won free-kicks. And that’s it—it doesn’t matter about the age, it’s the personality you have and the courage you have to play at this level, and I’m delighted to have him.
“Obviously, we’re super happy to see him make his debut, Andre as well, and the players that we changed to play and keep the performance.
It doesn’t matter what his passport says. You throw him in this context and he is able to adapt and have a good performance.”
Arsenal
Gyökeres to Miss November Internationals as Arsenal Target Derby Return
Arsenal hope Viktor Gyökeres will return after the November internationals for the north London derby
Arsenal expect Viktor Gyökeres to be sidelined through the November international window but are targeting his return for the north London derby on Sunday, Nov. 23. Mikel Arteta expressed concern after the striker was forced off with a muscular problem: “I am concerned because he hasn’t had many muscular issues and he had to leave the pitch. He was feeling something and that’s obviously never a good sign.”
The Athletic report the Swede will undergo further tests and will be out until after the international window. Arsenal are “hoping” Gyökeres will be fit and ready to start against Tottenham Hotspur. In the meantime Arteta is expected to revert to last season’s tactical workaround, deploying natural midfielder Mikel Merino up front for the European trip to Sparta Prague and likely for the Premier League visit of Sunderland on Saturday, Nov. 8.
The timing is unfortunate for Gyökeres, who had begun to find form in an Arsenal shirt. After scoring three times in his first 11 appearances he has since found the net three times in his last three matches.
Gyökeres joins a growing list of absentees. Noni Madueke, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli are all currently unavailable. Martinelli, who sustained a muscle injury in Arsenal’s 1–0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday, Oct. 26, is “targeting a return swiftly” after the November international window and is hoping to be available in time for Spurs’ trip to the Emirates as well.
Martinelli was left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squad for upcoming matches against Senegal and Tunisia, a move that gives the forward time to recover ahead of a congested holiday schedule. If either Gyökeres or Martinelli suffer a setback, they risk missing not only the north London derby but also clashes with Bayern Munich and Chelsea to close out November.
