Arteta hails 'incredible' Dowman after 16-year-old scores twice to sink Ipswich in Carabao Cup

Max Dowman scored twice to inspire Arsenal to a 4-2 Carabao Cup victory at Ipswich’s Portman Road on Tuesday, with manager Mikel Arteta describing the 16-year-old as an “incredible” talent while urging the club to remain cautious with his development.

Dowman opened the scoring after just seven minutes, dancing past Cedric Kipre before rifling into the bottom corner. He added a second early in the second half, slotting into the bottom corner to cap a dominant individual display. His pressing also directly contributed to Noni Madueke’s goal, and he played a part in Mikel Merino’s curled effort for Arsenal’s fourth.

The brace made Dowman only the second 16-year-old to score twice for a Premier League club in a single match, after Wayne Rooney achieved the feat for Everton in 2002 — a milestone that underlines the scale of the performance.

“A joy to have him,” Arteta said after the match. “Max, yeah, it’s inevitable to talk about him when he scores and he creates the moments that he has created tonight. It’s normal. He can deliver those actions effortlessly, I would say. That’s his biggest quality.”

Arteta was particularly impressed by Dowman’s ability to sustain his influence across a full match, not just in isolated moments. “He’s an unbelievable player because of the character that he has and how much he loves to play at the biggest stage,” the Arsenal manager added.

The performance came just days after Arteta had warned Dowman following a 2-0 win at Sunderland — on the same day the teenager also featured for Arsenal’s under-21s against Chelsea — that he would need to earn his minutes this season. The response at Portman Road was emphatic.

Despite the excitement surrounding the youngster, Arteta was careful to temper expectations. “It’s not easy to contain the hype, I understand, but what we have to do is look after him. He’s 16 years old. You don’t see that in this league,” he said.

“The probability is probably extremely low because you don’t see the players with the capacity to handle just the physicality of the game… but he’s doing it and he’s doing it really well every time there’s a chance.”

Arteta also stressed the club’s responsibility to manage Dowman’s workload carefully. “He is 16 years old and we have to be really cautious. We don’t want to stop him, we don’t want to put the brakes on him, we need to develop him and we are fully aware what he needs. He will have opportunities.”