Max Dowman’s stoppage-time winner and his assist for Viktor Gyökeres briefly softened the rising chorus of criticism aimed at Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. The 16-year-old’s late strike — and the classroom-quiet return to school the next morning — reminded fans why football thrills: risk, spontaneity and individual invention. For a few hours, that felt like a rebuke to the tightly managed, percentage-driven approach that has defined Arsenal this season.
Yet the wider reaction to Arteta’s side remains surprisingly hostile. Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler accused them of "time-wasting" after a narrow victory. Paul Scholes called them the "worst team to win the league." Peter Schmeichel labelled their football "ugly" and irritating to watch. Dowman’s moment offered a rare flash of joy, but it didn’t erase the prevailing view that Arsenal’s methods have grown overly pragmatic.
That is the central paradox: this team could complete an unprecedented quadruple — Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup — and still be criticised for the way it plays. Where Arsène Wenger’s 2003–04 Invincibles were celebrated for expansive, attractive football, an Arteta quadruple might be judged as
