Arsenal launch appeal against Max Dowman’s red card: Gunners fight to overturn 16-year-old’s ban before Liverpool clash following his furious reaction towards Fleetwood rival in League Cup exit

Arsenal are appealing Max Dowman’s red card from their shock defeat against Fleetwood on penalties in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night. 

The 16-year-old was given his marching orders after reacting aggressively to a heavy tackle by Harrison Neal.

Dowman was fortunate not to be injured by the challenge but then kicked out at the midfielder and was scolded by Mikel Arteta as he skulked off the pitch. 

His ban applies for the next three games, meaning he is set to miss fixtures against Liverpool on Sunday and then Hull and Newcastle, all in the Premier League. 

The Gunners have until 1pm on Thursday to submit their appeal documentation.

Dowman has played four times this season and Arsenal are keen to have him available, particularly after injuries to Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke. 

The Gunners were beaten 5-3 on penalties in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after a 1-1 draw with Fleetwood in regular time.

Aaron Loupalo-Bi opened the scoring for the League Two strugglers before Viktor Gyokeres got Arsenal level early in the second half. Dowman was sent off in the 86th minute. 

The ferociousness of Neal’s challenge irked many Arsenal supporters. Piers Morgan took to X to express his support for Dowman at full-time, while conceding his side were poor in general.

‘No way is that a straight red,’ his post began. ‘Dowman was mown down in a thuggish way, and reacted like anyone would when someone nearly broke their leg.

‘Blaming a 16-year-old kid for Arsenal’s abject humiliation is also ridiculous. None of our players turned up.’

AFTV regular Tai echoed Morgan’s sentiments, branding Fleetwood’s tackles in general as ‘disgusting’ and that Dowman is right to react with the likes of former players such as Aaron Ramsey and Eduardo being on the receiving end of leg-breaking tackles in the past.

‘You can criticise Max, but Max is 16. He’s seen that. Is he going to wait for his leg to be broken? The challenges that they were doing were absolutely disgraceful. This is disgusting,’ Tai told the AFTV YouTube channel.

‘The ref was not doing his job so now what we have is a situation where players again endanger other players’ career. Aaron [Ramsey] nearly had his leg amputated. Eduardo nearly had his leg amputated.

‘I expect players to not endanger other players’ careers. Max is 16. He does not want to get his leg broken like happened to Aaron and Eduardo. Now, you can say Max is wrong but Max is trying to defend himself.

‘The referee did not do his job, and it is scandalous. It’s disgraceful. And I’m disgusted that we’ve come here to face this. Fleetwood Town should be ashamed of themselves because that’s a tackle that endangers our players careers.’

While Tai was unhappy with the refereeing display, his fellow AFTV member Julian chose to blame the pitch dimensions for the visitors’ defeat at Highbury Stadium, home of League Two Fleetwood.

‘It’s 102metres long, the Premier League is 105m long: it’s just under three per cent difference,’ Julian quipped.

‘When you have a margin of that kind of level, it is only small but it can make a difference. And what that allowed Fleetwood to do was to make it easier for them to condense the play on a smaller pitch – which they’re used to playing on.

‘We’re not talking about the main reason why they lost, we’re talking about the small margins and the smaller margins tonight was three metres less in length in the pitch. It’s one of the smaller reasons.’

READ: Arsenal’s defeat by Fleetwood is the greatest upset in the history of the Carabao Cup: Premier League champions sunk by League Two side on dismal night for Mikel Arteta, writes OLIVER HOLT