When the official Arsenal account revealed their lineup for the League Cup encounter against Brighton at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, many fans were especially curious about one particular individual.
The selection of Max Dowman in the right-wing position distinguished him as the most youthful competitor to be included in the starting eleven for an officially recognized Arsenal contest, with his age recorded at 15 years and 302 days.
Why Max Dowman wasn’t Arsenal’s only record-breaker against Brighton
The Arsenal team has been performing exceptionally, with victories recorded in 12 out of 14 games held across various tournaments. The few incidents where they didn’t win included a narrow 1-0 loss to Liverpool in August and a 1-1 tie at their home field against Manchester City in September.
The Gunners have secured triumphs in eight straight matches following their game against City, which has aided them in establishing a lead of four points at the top of the Premier League rankings, while also preserving a flawless record in the Champions League tournament, and progressing to the quarter-finals of the League Cup.
Moreover, the exceptional level of performance exhibited by Arsenal throughout October resulted in the accomplishment of a historical achievement never before attained within English soccer.
The Gunners’ 2-0 success over Brighton meant they were recognized as the initial team within England’s top professional soccer division to engage in a minimum of six contests throughout a single month, securing victories in each instance without allowing any goals to be scored against them, as reported by Opta.
Arsenal’s flawless streak began with a 2-0 Champions League win over Olympiacos on the first of October, subsequently followed by a victory over West Ham United by the same margin in a Premier League event three days thereafter.
The team sustained its momentum following the cessation of international matches by securing a 1-0 league triumph at Fulham on the eighteenth of October, with this being accompanied by an overwhelming 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid within a European competition.
Subsequently, the Gunners were able to overcome Crystal Palace by a score of 1-0 during the Premier League match last Sunday, preceded by goals from both Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka against Brighton, therefore ensuring a sixth successive victory without conceding a goal.
The superior defensive actions exhibited by the Arsenal team throughout October suggest that they are focusing upon attaining a further noteworthy milestone.
Their current sequence of six consecutive matches devoid of conceding goals puts them only a couple of matches shy of equaling a club-established benchmark for successive matches in which no goals were conceded, which was attained in 1903 when eight matches in succession were recorded within a pair of Second Division seasons.
However, to surpass that specific record, the team must avoid allowing goals against them in three consecutive upcoming away matches, including Premier League games against Burnley and Sunderland, in addition to a Champions League game against Slavia Prague, all of which are scheduled to take place within the next nine days.
