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Merson criticises Arteta’s reaction to Dowman red card in Arsenal cup exit

Paul Merson said Mikel Arteta should have supported 16-year-old Max Dowman after his dismissal against Fleetwood. Arteta said he had warned his players about emotional control.

NewsJaws DeskEditorial desk

Published 28 Oct 2026, 09:55 GMT2 min read

A view of the Percy Ronson Stand at Highbury Stadium in Fleetwood. — A view of the Percy Ronson Stand at Highbury Stadium, Fleetwood, in 2007. This is a file photograph, not a view of the Arsenal match. FTFC01 — Tangerines at English Wikipedia (resized and converted to WebP). Public domain.Image source Image licence: Public domain

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Paul Merson has criticised Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s reaction to 16-year-old Max Dowman’s red card during Tuesday’s Carabao Cup defeat at Fleetwood Town. Arsenal drew 1-1 with the fourth-tier side on 27 October before losing 5-3 on penalties, sending Fleetwood into the quarter-finals.

Dowman was sent off late in the match after reacting to a challenge. The National described an altercation with Fleetwood’s Harrison Neal four minutes from the end. As the teenager left the pitch, Arteta appeared to speak to him; what he said in that exchange has not been established.

Why Merson criticised Arteta’s reaction

Merson told Sky Sports he would have put an arm around Dowman and questioned whether Arteta would have reacted the same way to an experienced player, according to The Football Faithful. He said Arsenal were still level at 1-1 when Dowman went off and could still win the tie.

‘He’s not the last person to get sent off for Arsenal, nor the first,’ Merson said. He suggested Arteta might wish he had handled the moment differently. Merson’s objection was to the manager’s response to a young player leaving the field, rather than to the eventual shootout result.

What Arteta said about Dowman’s dismissal

Arteta said Arsenal had discussed before the game what to expect and the need to control their emotions. Asked about the dismissal itself, he said the camera views made it difficult to judge and that he wanted to watch the incident again before assessing it, The National reported. Asked whether Dowman would learn from it, Arteta said: ‘Yes, we all learn from everything.’

The Guardian reported that Dowman had also been sent off while playing for England Under-19s earlier in October. The Fleetwood dismissal came in his senior club career, according to BBC Sport, during what the BBC described as his second Arsenal start of the season.

Fleetwood’s place in the quarter-finals

Fleetwood were 18th in League Two going into the tie, The Guardian reported. Aaron Loupalo-Bi and Viktor Gyökeres scored the goals in the 1-1 draw. Fleetwood then held their nerve in the shootout, with Conor Haughey converting the decisive penalty to complete the upset.

Fleetwood manager Matt Lawlor called the victory ‘unbelievably special’ and said it was an emotional night for him and his players. His team’s reward is a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals; Arsenal’s cup campaign ended at Highbury.