Mikel Arteta has tipped Max Dowman to recover from his sending-off at Fleetwood and make more Champions League history as Arsenal prepare to face Slavia Prague in Czechia.
Exactly one year ago, Dowman became the youngest player ever to appear in the competition, aged 15 years and 308 days, when Arsenal beat Slavia Prague 3-0 away. The 16-year-old is now pushing for a first start in the tournament, though he is serving a three-match domestic suspension that rules him out of Premier League action until November 29.
Arteta praises Dowman's positive attitude
Speaking about the teenager, Arteta said: "That's a chapter that is gone. It's a moment of learning from all of us, and we move on. You learn from the not-so-good ones, you have to make sure you learn from the great ones as well. And he's been engaged."
He added: "When you see the kids and today we spent some time together, talking about things in training, he's always super positive. When you're 16 you have a different way of looking at things and treating things, and that's what he brings to the team as well."
Record in sight for Slavia clash
Arsenal, who beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield last Sunday, are expected to rotate heavily for the match. Slavia Prague have not won any of their past 22 Champions League games, and Dowman could be handed his first start in the competition.
If he scores, he would become the youngest goalscorer in Champions League history, surpassing Ansu Fati's record of 17 years and 40 days.
Arteta said he would have no concerns about throwing Dowman in following his Fleetwood dismissal, describing their relationship as direct and honest.
He concluded: "I sit down with him and I just say, have you seen my press conference? What do you think? I'm just honest with him. It's public so we just have this kind of relationship. I think it's the way it should be and if he thinks something different he needs to tell me. That's the relationship we try to build with our players."
"He's in a good place and that at the end is going to come out as a critical point in his career where he needs to learn about something that is going to be happening a few times every game for him. This is not something that's going to happen maybe once or twice a season, three or four times per game. Probably he's going to have to go through this kind of moment and he needs to master that because it's part of his game."
