Dowman's Appeal Fails; Arsenal Teenager to Serve Three-Match Ban
Seven Lights
Max Dowman will serve a three-match suspension after an independent regulatory commission dismissed Arsenal’s appeal against the 16-year-old’s red card in the Carabao Cup defeat at Fleetwood Town, the Football Association confirmed Thursday. The commission rejected both the claim of wrongful dismissal and the claim of excessive punishment, the Guardian reported.
Dowman was sent off in the 85th minute of Tuesday’s tie for a kick out at Harrison Neal following a bruising tackle. Fleetwood, a lower-league side, won the match on penalties after a 1-1 draw, with Lynch the hero of the shootout. Martin Ødegaard had come on at half-time and Viktor Gyökeres quickly levelled before the dismissal.
The ban begins Sunday at Anfield, where Arsenal face Liverpool in the Premier League, and carries through the home game with Hull and the trip to Newcastle either side of the international break. The FA said the commission’s written reasons would be published in due course.
Sky Sports and BBC Sport reported the dismissal of the appeal, and The Athletic reported it as an update to the club’s effort to protect the teenager. Yahoo Sports called the ruling a significant setback for a club that has built much of its attacking play around the youngster’s emergence.
The episode has shadowed Dowman’s first full season at the summit of the game. Sent off within minutes of a hard tackle, he became the subject of a debate about the protection of young players and the discipline expected of them; Mikel Arteta spoke to him as he left the pitch at Tuesday’s ground, an image the Guardian ran beside its report of the commission’s decision.
Fleetwood will host Everton in the last eight of the Cup. Arsenal must now plan an attack without its most talked-about talent through three league matches, with the written reasons of the commission still to come.