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Bet you didn't expect to be reading yet another injury report for Arsenal, huh?
This season has been plagued by injuries for Arsenal. It seems like when one player returns, another two get injured. Somehow, throughout the storm, Arsenal is still top of the Premier League, but they are barely holding on.
Those who look at Arsenal with a glass half full might tell you that the injury crisis opens the door for some fringe players to make a name for themselves. And that'd be true, the likes of Ben White, Noni Madueke and Cristhian Mosquera (ironically) have all benefitted from being called up this season.
One player who hasn't, though, is Max Dowman.
Max Dowman is still just a teenager. The 15-year-old is expected to achieve big things, having already made his Arsenal debut. However, Mikel Arteta knows better than to exhaust him by playing him week in, week out.
The hope would have been for Max Dowman to start a few games in the busy festive period — perhaps in the cup games, or the latter stages of the Champions League group phase.
Arsenal rocked by yet another injury setback
Unfortunately, Max Dowman is the latest to suffer from the Arsenal injury curse. According to David Ornstein, Max Dowman was injured in a friendly against Man United. A challenge from an opposing player gave him ankle ligament damage, but it is expected that he won't need surgery.
Dowman will now probably miss two months of action, missing the entire festive period.
And that's a real bummer. The Arsenal first team won't be as panicked by this one, but it is truly devastating for Max Dowman himself.
One reply stated "Really tough setback for the kid, tomorrow’s game against Brugge could have been a great chance to implement him for a few minutes at the very least," while another said "he gets no protection in youth games, this was always going to happen eventually. Joke."
He has shown an ability to step up and be involved in the first team. And this is the period where he could have moved from a rotational player to a genuine contender for the starting XI. However, those opportunities will not come his way.
Still, the fact that Dowman doesn't require surgery is promising. We will learn more about the extent of his injury in the coming days and weeks, but surgery at this age would have been a real setback.
And look, there are still plenty of years for Dowman to make a name for himself. He is already on the right path, but for a serious push to the starting XI, we will now be looking more towards next season, instead.