London — What if I told you that the internet went down at the Emirates Stadium moments before Max Dowman put in He Cross over, does that make it feel even more like what happened next? Arsenal demands your complete attention. This was their moment. You know the type. Every title winner gets one – when hope surpasses belief and reaches certainty.
Marc Overmars at Old Trafford, Thierry Henry dancing on the Liverpool backline, that kind of thing. However, a better fit this season might be Federico Macheda, the teenager who transformed the situation against Aston Villa in 2009. You suspect that Dowman, the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history, is destined for much more than a pub quiz curio.
Arsenal have already seen glimpses of the 16-year-old’s talent and flair that belies his age. An explosion, a flash, a slaloming dribble that didn’t result in a final product this time, but you knew long ago that it would. Add a sense of timing to those ethereal qualities of his.
“I had the feeling it was a moment for him,” Arteta said. “Maybe because he doesn’t seem to be faced with the opportunity or the moment or the context or the opponent. He just plays naturally. He makes decisions to make things happen and what he did was incredible.
“His character, his personality and the fact that he doesn’t panic under pressure or his teammates or the opponent. I’ve seen a lot of players with talent, but at the age of 16 there are very few players who can cope with that level of demand.”
If you want to know what a player stunned by that moment looks like, watch Dowman compose himself in the seconds before Arsenal begin their ruckus. As doubt threatened to overwhelm Arsenal, he refused to panic. Examining his left leg, he assessed his options.
The normal time to be played was 85 seconds but Dowman was not to rush. Piero Hincapie knew what was about to happen, a cross at the back post that flew perhaps an inch over Jordan Pickford’s gloves. Once again, the ball found a way in and went through Ecuador’s midriff and across the six-yard box. For a second it was Eberechi Eze’s shot which again swung wide, another one of those moments where Bukayo Saka could not keep the ball on goal. not this time. Joining the shot came Victor Gyöckeres, who was on the verge of one of those zero-shot, zero-effects performances that were all too familiar to rock the house.
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Two shots per 90 in the Premier League. For a forward with such a limited touch profile, possession was lost at an alarming rate. Apart from scenes that don’t come often, there’s very little to offer. Problems for another day. What mattered now was goal number 11 of the season.
Right now we are in March. Performance doesn’t matter that much. The last time the Emirates felt such joy, Reiss Nelson buried Bournemouth with the last kick of the ball, but there were still 12 more games to go. With so much football left to play it made sense that Arsenal looked weak at the back, with numbers looking a little light to weather any injury storm.
Perhaps the same will happen this time also. Perhaps something yet unexpected will derail the title train. This has been England’s best team, capable of much in attack, given that they are fielding the best defense England have seen in a generation. And they only have to navigate seven more of them. Arsenal could suffer a breakdown.
Not that they were that bad. In fact, under Kai Havertz, this was a team that looked like it had pulled off its final season implosion to perfection. Arsenal dominated the final third, pinning Everton back in their box and testing their defense with Eze’s artillery efforts from range. A little cleverness from Martin Odegaard might have helped, but if you want to know why Arsenal didn’t score and why they couldn’t get quality shots until Dowman rolled the dice, you have to look at a particularly impressive defensive display from their opponents.
Sometimes the other team makes you uncomfortable with their organization and you start making mistakes. Arsenal did not do this. They kept investigating. And yes, by the time Dowman got the ball in, the cross was probably wobbly at the Emirates, but his team were playing the way that often leads to goals. The scoreline may have been bad, the xG may have been bad, xG per shot to my eyes, the glasses don’t do anything bad, but the process was spot on.
It just needed a sprinkling of stardust.
“We talked about every activity before the game about playing with a constant desire to win and playing with the conviction that we are going to find a way to do it,” Arteta said. “The effort, the quality, the commitment of the players was sensational. And then it ended in a way that probably none of us expected. And it was one of the best moments we spent together at the Emirates.”
Of course, no one would have guessed that this would be the day the sun would kiss the Emirates Stadium with its orange light before kicking off. This was not a day that made North London proud. But when you start working again you see signs everywhere. Riccardo Calafiori’s once-in-a-lifetime block. A Stonewall penalty was not given when Michael Keane clipped Kai Havertz’s ankle. Iliman Ndiaye shoots wide and wide of the post.
It had to end this way because that’s how titles are won. You look at the projection models, the bookmakers’ odds, the pundits telling you that victory is yours and you don’t believe them at all. You prepare yourself for the worst. And then that moment comes. It was from Arsenal. It was Dowman’s.