CONFIRMED
Arsenal are appealing the red card shown to 16-year-old Max Dowman in their Carabao Cup exit at Fleetwood, Sky Sports reports. Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher does not fancy their chances. He told Sky Sports News he expects the appeal to fail “because of the aggressiveness of Dowman”.
What we know
Fleetwood Town of League Two beat Arsenal 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the fourth round on 27 October 2026. Dowman was sent off in the 85th minute for violent conduct. According to Sky Sports, he kicked out at Harrison Neal after Neal’s strong challenge.
Sky Sports reports Arsenal are appealing. The club must submit appeal documents by 1pm on Thursday, 29 October, and hopes for a decision before the Liverpool match on Sunday, 1 November. The Telegraph, via Yahoo, reports the appeal was confirmed on Wednesday, and GB News/PA says Arsenal confirmed it. We found no standalone Arsenal or FA statement in the sources checked.
Now the rulebook. Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game, as published by the FA, says: “Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball, or against a team-mate, team official, match official, spectator or any other person, regardless of whether contact is made.” Excessive force means a sending-off. Reckless conduct means a caution. Premier League guidance adds that the offence stands whether or not contact is made. Arsenal’s wrongful-dismissal claim to the FA therefore has to show the referee was wrong to see excessive force.
Gallagher thinks the referee got it right. You “can see the intent”, he said, and he believes it is a red. People have compared the incident with Cole Palmer’s booking against Mateus Fernandes last weekend. Gallagher says Dowman was “a little bit more aggressive” and “almost brings his knee up in a kicking action”.
He was even-handed about the trigger. Neal “gets the ball” but was “too aggressive”, Gallagher said, and the challenge deserved a free-kick and a yellow card.
Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports the decision was the referee’s call. Asked what he said to Dowman as the teenager walked off, Arteta said only that it was “something that we discussed before the game”. No official referee or PGMOL explanation for the red was found in the sources checked.
What we don’t know yet
There is no verdict, and no confirmed date for one. Arsenal have not put their formal grounds on the record. The referee’s reasoning has not been published.
The risk is unclear too. Yahoo Sports notes that appeals judged frivolous can lead to an extended ban. Nothing in the reporting so far suggests how the FA views this one.
What is rumored
The Evening Standard, an established London outlet, reports that “Standard Sport understands” Arsenal are unhappy and believe the red was a disproportionate punishment for Dowman’s response to Neal’s tackle. Yahoo Sports carried the story. It rests on unnamed club-side understanding, not an on-record statement.
The appeal was first reported by The Sun’s Simon Collings and by football.london, both established UK outlets. The Sun also said Arsenal hoped for a verdict before Liverpool. Sky Sports has since reported the appeal and that timeline, so those points now sit on firmer ground.
Lowest on the ladder is a football.london lip-reader piece. It claims Arteta made an angry six-word comment to Dowman as he left. Lip-reading claims cannot be verified, and Arteta has said only that it was something discussed before the game.
What it means
Arsenal have won one of these before. In January 2025, an independent regulatory commission overturned Myles Lewis-Skelly’s red card at Wolves. Every appeal turns on its own footage, though, and the Law 12 test here is narrow: was Dowman using excessive force while not challenging for the ball? On Gallagher’s reading, the kick came after the ball had gone, which is exactly the territory the law describes.
A failed appeal is not automatically a disaster. Watford’s appeal against Troy Deeney’s red card against Arsenal in April 2019 failed without the ban being extended.
There is also a wider picture for a 16-year-old learning fast. Sporting Tribune reports Dowman was sent off for England Under-19s earlier this month, a card The Telegraph describes as a poorly timed tackle. That was a different kind of offence. Two reds in a month is still a pattern any coach would want to talk through.
Neal’s challenge was by Gallagher’s own account a booking. The law, however, does not excuse retaliation, and Arsenal now have until Thursday lunchtime to argue otherwise.
