Mikel Arteta named Max Dowman in his starting XI for Arsenal\u2019s Carabao Cup fourth-round tie with Brighton & Hove Albion, making sweeping changes after the weekend victory over Crystal Palace. The selection handed Dowman his first senior start and established a new club record.<\/p>\n
At 15 years and 302 days, Dowman is the youngest starter in Arsenal history. He surpassed the previous mark set by academy graduate Jack Porter, who made his senior debut against Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last term at 16 years and 72 days.<\/p>\n
Dowman is also already the second-youngest appearance-maker in Premier League history, a distinction only Ethan Nwaneri has claimed ahead of him. The teenager is expected to commit his long-term future to Arsenal and, given his early breakthrough, could add further records before the 2025\/26 season concludes.<\/p>\n
The start places Dowman among a long list of early debutants from Arsenal\u2019s history. The club\u2019s register of youngest starters includes Cesc F\u00e0bregas (16 years, 177 days), Jack Wilshere (16 years, 266 days), Gerry Ward (16 years, 321 days), David O\u2019Leary (17 years, 106 days), Serge Gnabry (17 years, 108 days), Arturo Lopoli (17 years, 125 days) and Richie Powling (17 years, 159 days). Jack Porter and Ethan Nwaneri also feature prominently in the modern era of academy graduations.<\/p>\n
Arteta\u2019s decision to rotate his squad for a cup tie reflects the club\u2019s use of the Carabao Cup as a platform to blood youth players. Dowman\u2019s elevation will be monitored closely as he transitions from academy prospect to senior squad member. The appearance is a significant milestone for the player and a notable moment in the club\u2019s long history of introducing young talent at competitive level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Max Dowman became Arsenal’s youngest-ever starter at 15 years, 302 days in the Carabao Cup tie. today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1067],"tags":[1066,1193],"class_list":["post-4126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-carabao-cup","tag-carabao-cup","tag-dowman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}