Mikel Arteta described Max Dowman’s record-breaking goal as “one of the best moments that Arsenal have lived together at the Emirates”.
Aged 16 years and 73 days, Dowman became the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer when he ran from inside his own half before tapping the ball into an empty net deep into injury-time against Everton to seal a crucial 2-0 victory.
Dowman was introduced with 16 minutes of normal time remaining and with the game goalless as Arsenal struggled to break down a resilient Everton side. The teenager’s impact was remarkable as he delivered the cross that led to Viktor Gyokeres tapping home in the 89th minute, and then scored Arsenal’s second in a moment that will live long in the memory.
With Everton pushing for an equaliser from a corner in the last added minute, and their goalkeeper Jordan Pickford caught upfield, Dowman broke away in style, gliding around Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall when he could easily have chosen to shoot from inside his own half. The stadium erupted when he eventually rolled the ball home.
“It was a phenomenal moment,” Arteta said. “We talked before the game to play with that relentless desire to win every action and to have the conviction that we are going to find a way to do it. And the effort, the quality, the commitment of the players was sensational. And then it ended up in a manner that probably none of us expected. And it was one of the best moments that we lived together at the Emirates.”
Dowman sprinted around 75 metres to score Arsenal’s second (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Asked what was going through his mind when he introduced Dowman, Arteta replied: “Probably in my head I had a gut feeling. Yesterday he was training in the last few days and I had a gut feeling that it was a moment for him, probably because he doesn’t seem to be faced by the occasion or the moment or the context or the opponent. He just plays so naturally. He makes decisions to make things happen and what he delivered was incredible.”
There were wild celebrations in the stands and on the pitch, a sense of disbelief almost at what people had just witnessed.
“It is big because you put so much passion, effort, hours into this, which is our passion,” he said. “When you turn around and you see the bench and those eyes just with that happiness, that joy that you’re almost not believing what has just happened.”
Arteta said that he had given Dowman some simple instructions before he came on. “‘Go and do your thing and win us the game’. And the same with Viktor and to (Gabriel) Martinelli. I said these are the moments in the season when something special has to happen, and he knows he has the ability, which I have to give him the opportunity, and he will deliver.”
It felt like time stood still when Dowman closed in on the Everton goal. “For me, it felt like 45 seconds!” Arteta said. “And I think it was really special because you could sense that it was building up, building up and you see there’s no goalie there, ‘it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen’. It was incredible. It was so loud, so energetic. What a moment.”
The victory put Arsenal nine points above Manchester City, who have a game in hand, having won their fourth league game in a row.
