Ipswich Town 2-4 Arsenal: 16-year-old Max Dowman scores twice on Carabao Cup debut night

Arsenal named a youthful side at Portman Road and still won with room to spare. Max Dowman, 16, scored twice, Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino added one each, and Arsenal beat Ipswich Town 4-2 at Portman Road to move into the Carabao Cup fourth round.

It was over almost before it began. Dowman put Arsenal ahead in the 7th minute from an Eberechi Eze assist, and Madueke doubled the lead in the 16th. By the time Kasey McAteer was booked in the 34th minute for Ipswich, the hosts were chasing a game that had already tilted away from them.

Goal by goal

1. 7' — Max Dowman (Arsenal), assisted by Eberechi Eze, 0-1
2. 16' — Noni Madueke (Arsenal) 0-2
3. 47' — Max Dowman (Arsenal), assisted by Martin Zubimendi, 0-3
4. 58' — Mikel Merino (Arsenal) 0-4
5. 62' — Anis Mehmeti (Ipswich Town), assisted by Jack Clarke, 1-4
6. 90+1' — Chuba Akpom (Ipswich Town), assisted by Leif Davis, 2-4

Dowman struck again two minutes into the second half, this time from a Zubimendi pass, and Merino made it 4-0 in the 58th minute. Ipswich were never going to claw that back, but they did find a way into the scoresheet. Mehmeti scored from Jack Clarke's assist in the 62nd minute, and Chuba Akpom, one of five Ipswich substitutes, added a stoppage-time second from a Leif Davis delivery. Both late goals made the scoreline look more even than the match had been.

The numbers

Arsenal had more of the ball and made it count: six shots on target to three, with four of them finding the net in the first hour. Ipswich picked up both yellow cards of the night, McAteer's in the first half and Marcelino Nunez's in the 87th minute.

Dowman, 16, and a night to remember

Dowman was the story. Mikel Arteta was open about how he sees it: "He's 16 years old, and we need to be really cautious with that," the Arsenal manager said afterwards, before adding, "He was brilliant." This was the teenager's first appearance of the season. Per Sky Sports he had played just six more times at the end of last season, which makes a first-half goal in the 7th minute and a second one early in the second half a striking way to start the new campaign.

"He's 16 years old, and we need to be really cautious with that."

— Mikel Arteta

He was not alone in the attack. Eze and Zubimendi supplied his two goals, Madueke scored the second, and Viktor Gyokeres led the line. Merino's goal in the 58th minute capped a night in which Arsenal's starting side, with Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal and Myles Lewis-Skelly alongside Zubimendi, was in control for most of the night.

Line-ups

• Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Walton; Greaves, Kipre, Ouattara, Furlong; Nunez, Mehmeti; Florentino, Flemming, Philogene; McAteer. Came on: Clarke, Lukic, Egeli, Akpom, Davis.
• Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Kepa; Gabriel, Salmon, Lewis-Skelly; Zubimendi, Dowman, Merino, Guimaraes, Gyokeres, Eze, Madueke. Came on: Ibrahim, Odegaard, Tzolis, Julienne, Konsa.

Two clubs, two different Septembers

Ipswich arrived with four league games behind them: a 2-1 win over Sunderland, a 2-5 defeat at Manchester United, a 0-2 home loss to Liverpool and a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace three days before this tie. Their route into the third round had been straightforward, a 3-1 home win over Leicester City on 25 August. Arsenal, as a Premier League club with European football, entered the competition at this stage, so this was their first Carabao Cup match of the season. They arrived on a run of five straight wins across the Premier League and Champions League, including victories over Chelsea, Napoli and Sunderland.

The two clubs had not met in any match covered in Guriball's archive before this tie, so there is no recent form line between them to lean on. What the night did show is how much squad depth matters in a competition where the biggest clubs rotate heavily: Ipswich threw on five replacements and still conceded four.

What's next

Arsenal go into the fourth round, where the draw sent them to Fleetwood Town. That tie was played on 27 October and finished 1-1, with Fleetwood winning the shootout 5-3. Before that, Arsenal's next league game was a trip to Brighton on 19 September. Ipswich, out of the cup, returned to Premier League business the same day with a visit to Everton.