It was the moment to blow the roof off the Emirates Stadium, the exclamation mark on a victory that felt pivotal to the destination of the Premier League title. Everton had been excellent, a colossal test for Arsenal and their credentials. Mikel Arteta and his players passed it. But it was more than that. It was the way they pulled through.
The goal to tilt it their way, the decisive one with time almost up, was tapped in by the substitute, Viktor Gyökeres. It came when Jordan Pickford brushed the ball into another replacement, Piero Hincapié and, with luck on Arsenal’s side, it broke perfectly for Gyökeres in front of an empty net.
Nobody in the red of Arsenal was talking about that one as they drifted out of the stadium, pulses racing. They were talking about the clincher that came shortly afterwards. The one that was scored by the gliding 16-year-old prodigy who is still in Year 11. Who has yet to take his GCSEs. The midfielder with the preternatural composure to go with his velvety touches. Who has no fear.
Arteta had sent on Max Dowman as a 72nd minute substitute for the deep-sitting midfielder, Martín Zubimendi. It was a bold attacking move, Dowman going to the right wing, Bukayo Saka coming inside, Eberechi Eze dropping deeper alongside Declan Rice. It was Dowman who supplied the ball in for the breakthrough goal and it was him that sparked the pandemonium at the end. Arteta called it “one of the best moments at the Emirates.”
