Dowman drops back to Arsenal u21s ahead of first-team City clash | OneFootball

Max Dowman is set to start for the Arsenal u21s against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, seemingly ruling him out of Sunday’s first-team squad to face Manchester City.

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Arsenal have confirmed their u21 lineup for Saturday’s match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Max Dowman included for the first time this season.

Dowman hadn’t featured in a single academy squad in 2025/26 up to this point, joining the first team for pre-season and for four of the first five matches of the Premier League and Champions League campaigns.

Yet after substitute appearances against Leeds United and Liverpool, Dowman didn’t come off the bench against Nottingham Forest or Athletic Club. His only starts this season were for the England u19s over the September break.

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An optimistic take on Dowman dropping down to the u21s could be that there’s good news on Arsenal’s first-team injury absences. A return for Martin Odegaard or Bukayo Saka would give the Gunners neither the squad space nor a particular need to include Dowman.

But it’s worth mentioning that the Premier League squads are smaller than in the Champions League, and Arsenal have already welcomed late summer signing Piero Hincapie and injury-returner Christian Norgaard to the squad since their last league game.

Even without Odegaard or Saka returning, there isn’t much space available at the moment. And Ben White is another one who could return this weekend.

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Perhaps more importantly than any of that, Dowman needs to keep playing minutes. It’s great for him to get chances in the senior squad, and he’ll probably get another one in the League Cup in midweek, but he needs time on the pitch to keep developing.

Somewhat incredibly, this will be Dowman’s first competitive start for the Arsenal u21s. It might feel like a step down, but for most 15-year-olds this u21 appearance would be ahead of schedule.