It was by the skin of their teeth that Arsenal kept their Premier League title bid in motion, before eventually finding out they had extended their lead at the top of the table over the weekend.
Eighty-nine minutes is what it took for the Gunners to find their opener against Everton, with it seeming for a while they they could have actually lost the game. Still, cometh the hour, cometh the man – or, boy.
It was the introduction of Max Dowman that made the difference in this one. Still only 16, he became the youngest goal scorer in Premier League history when he ran the length of the pitch to make it 2-0 deep into stoppage time.
Before that, he had played a key role in fellow substitute Viktor Gyokeres’ opener, leaping on the back of the £64million man in celebration, now a fully-fledged member of the first team.
What he goes onto achieve, time will only tell. But it is looking all the more likely that this Arsenal team will achieve something special this season with their first Premier League title win since 2004.
Daily Mail Sport’s ISAAN KHAN was at the Emirates to run the rule over Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Everton.
Magic Max Dowman
A 16-year-old keeping a Premier League title bid on track? Sounds mad, though desperate times call for desperate measures. And at Arsenal they have a future superstar on their hands; no if, buts or maybes about it.
For all the £250million spent in the summer, Mikel Arteta turned to Dowman in the 75th minute. And boy, did he deliver. His substitution onto the pitch for Martin Zubimendi seemed a huge risk with the score level, throwing a raw teenager onto the pitch in hope of something, anything really.
His deep looping cross, struck with verve and pace, was flapped at by Jordan Pickford. From there, Piero Hincapie bundled the ball across goal to Gyokeres who tapped it home.
Dowman wasn’t done yet. With Pickford in the opposition box for a corner in injury time, the teenager skilfully evaded two defenders before running the length of the pitch to score. That made him the Premier League’s youngest-ever scorer aged 16 years, 73 days, breaking a record set by Everton’s James Vaughan (16 years, 270 days) in 2005.
Arteta ran down the touchline punching the air; the crowd were in raptures, the young lad from Essex having saved them in a match meandering to a goalless draw. He deserves credit for taking such a gamble which could have backfired, sending on child so young in a crunch title race match.
Dowman’s moment felt significant, the kind of which will be looked back upon at the end of the season when assessing the moments in which the league was potentially won. The way Arsenal’s bench crowded their wonderkid in celebration and Arteta’s reaction spoke of much more than three points. It echoed a feeling of inevitability of where the title will land come May — particularly now with Manchester City having drawn against West Ham.
‘It is big because you put so much passion, effort, hours into this, which is our passion,’ said Arteta. ‘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.
‘It makes all the sense in the world for what we do and the difficult moments that we go through. And the reaction of the bench as well. When I see everybody so willing to and so generally happy about the team winning the manner that we did it, it’s so special.’
The omens are looking bright for Arsenal’s title charge — and Dowman’s future.
Riding their luck
They never make it easy, do they? Everton had their chances, arguably better ones than those of Arsenal in the first-half.
Dwight McNeil struck the goalframe soon after Riccardo Calafiori used his boot to acrobatically shoo the ball away from the goal line.
Later in the half, David Raya batted away Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s shot. The Toffees came ready to fight, believing they could walk away with all three points.
A mightily impressive record on the road having been unbeaten since December was not to be sniffed at. For a team hunting a first league title in two decades, the Gunners need to stop ceding chances. Otherwise it will bite them soon enough.
Another theme which arose is by which the north London club soak up pressure in periods of a match, interspersed by a cat-like David Raya save or two.
Raya denied Beto on 49 minutes from point-blank range, the ball falling nicely for the striker off a corner. It was a top stop indeed. Throughout the match, when required, Raya stepped up as he usually does.
It’s not sustainable, though. To rely on your goalkeeper to pull off these wonder stops will eventually hurt Arsenal, no matter Raya’s talents.
The wrong call?
A word on the Kai Havertz penalty controversy.
Jamie Redknapp called it an ‘absolute disgrace’, Michael Keane treading on the German’s heel but escaping with no infringement.
Redknapp is right. How Keane got away with it, who knows.
It makes you wonder what VAR is there for…