Arsenal injury update: Bukayo Saka's absence has moved Max Dowman into the expected creative centre of Arsenal's Carabao Cup fourth-round tie at Fleetwood Town on Tuesday, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports Football. The 16-year-old is expected to be the fulcrum of the Arsenal attack again. This is his first real chance since breaking through towards the Arsenal first team.
Arsenal injury update clears the lane for Max Dowman
- Round three, against Ipswich Town: Dowman produced a man-of-the-match display.
- Season to date: Mikel Arteta has largely held the teenager back.
- Round four, Fleetwood Town: Saka's injury opens the door.
Sky Sports frames the moment as the point where Arteta releases the shackles and installs Dowman as one of his key players. The claim is positional, not sentimental. Dowman would not arrive as a rotational body filling a gap; the preview states he could challenge Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze for a starting place, given the pair are yet to show the consistency required since joining Arsenal.
The comparison raised is Lamine Yamal, unleashed by Barcelona and Spain without hesitation. The question attached to it is whether Dowman needs the same treatment. Sky Sports also puts the wider stake plainly: the call matters for Arsenal and for English football, because the player is rated a rare talent who eventually has to play. Whether this is the period his career accelerates is the open item.
Cole Palmer suspension reshapes Liverpool vs Chelsea
Liverpool host Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports Main Event. It is a meeting of two Basque coaches, Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso, with different pressures attached. Alonso will be without Cole Palmer, suspended after his sending off against Tottenham. Chelsea arrive from a 2-0 home defeat to Spurs that Gary Neville described as "awful".
Rotation is the open question on both benches. Iraola is in the middle of four consecutive home games and enters the tie after three straight wins, with Arsenal visiting Anfield on Super Sunday. Alonso has Manchester United, Sunderland and Leeds ahead in the league. Each coach must decide where the load sits.
One fixed point: Rio Ngumoha is certain to start against the club he began his career at. The young forward shone against Villarreal in the Champions League last week and played the final 13 minutes of Sunday's 2-0 win against Brighton.
Paul Merson to Sky Sports: "If they get beat by Liverpool and Man Utd this week, then Chelsea are in big trouble. You'd be seriously thinking they'd be lucky to get Champions League this season. And that can't happen. Whatever happens, that can't happen."
Everton vs Newcastle: Grealish ill and Branthwaite concussed
Everton host Newcastle on Thursday, kick-off 7.45pm, live on Sky Sports+. The availability list is short on both sides. Jack Grealish is ill. Jarrad Branthwaite has a concussion. David Moyes will have to go to the well with the same group.
Newcastle's options are depleted too, but they hold the advantage in depth, helped by Anthony Elanga's return during the league win over Crystal Palace. Matthias Jaissle may go relatively strong with silverware in view; Newcastle won the competition two years ago under Eddie Howe. The league rematch on Merseyside follows 96 hours later.
Brighton carry a four-game unbeaten run to the Etihad
Manchester City and Brighton meet twice this week: the cup tie at the Etihad on Wednesday, kick-off 7.30pm, live on Sky Sports+, then the league fixture. Brighton are unbeaten in four games against City (W2, D2), their best run against such usually dominant opposition. Fabian Hurzeler's high-intensity football is the style City tend to find most unsettling. City are the holders.
Elsewhere in the fourth round
- Bradford City vs Peterborough United (Tuesday, 7.45pm, Sky Sports+): Robbie Savage has taken five points from four games since leaving Forest Green Rovers in early October, and Peterborough have scored seven goals since. Bradford have not conceded in four matches under Michael Duff, three of them 0-0, and have let in five in 12 league games. Tickets are £5. Peterborough last reached the quarter-finals in 1992.
- Bournemouth vs Aston Villa (Wednesday, 7.45pm, Sky Sports+): Villa are seven games unbeaten across all competitions since beating Coventry City in the last round. Bournemouth have won four in a row, including AC Milan and Manchester United.
- Fulham vs Crystal Palace (Wednesday, 7.45pm, Sky Sports+): Alvaro Arbeloa's Fulham have won back-to-back league games against Hull and Coventry with consecutive clean sheets. Palace have conceded 19 league goals, the division's worst record, after defeats to Brighton and Newcastle in which they conceded seven without reply.
- Sunderland vs Brentford (Wednesday, 7.45pm, Sky Sports+): Brentford have reached the quarter-finals in three of the last five seasons, including the last two, and were knocked out by the eventual winners in each of those. Sunderland have been eliminated in six of their last eight League Cup fourth-round ties.
Original reporting: skysports.com.
