The youngster was shown a red card in the 85th minute after reacting to a heavy challenge from Fleetwood midfielder Harrison Neal. He will now serve a three-match suspension after Arsenal lost their appeal against the dismissal.
Arteta was visibly frustrated as Dowman walked off the pitch, and the Arsenal manager has now explained his reaction, saying he had warned the teenager before the match about handling provocation from opponents.
Speaking at his press conference on Friday ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool, Arteta defended his touchline response and said his relationship with Dowman informed how he addressed the incident.
‘I haven’t seen the reaction to my reaction, whether it is positive or negative. But you need to understand the context and the relationship that I have with him and what we discussed just before we went out,’ Arteta said.
‘You can have another reaction. If you see the reaction of my father and my mother to me some days, you might say, ‘I don’t like the reaction.’ For me, it was the best reaction to be who I am.’
The Spaniard also questioned whether Dowman’s teammates would have welcomed his reaction had the teenager’s dismissal left Arsenal playing with 10 men.
‘You want to see the reaction of his teammates when they have to play with 10? What do you expect? I don’t know. ‘This is the environment, and this is the reality,’ he said.
‘Otherwise, we are in Disneyland. We are not in Disneyland; we are in the Premier League.’
Arteta insisted that while Arsenal would continue to protect the young forward, they would also hold him to the same standards expected of every player at the club.
‘We look after him so much, but at the same time we’re going to be demanding because he needs to earn the right to play, just like everybody else,’ he said.
‘It is not the first time. It happened another time this month with the England Under-19s. And it will continue to happen because of the way he plays and the way he attracts opponents.
‘We have to be able to tell each other what we think because he is 16, and we have to be very protective of him, but at the same time very straight with him about what we expect of him towards the team, individuals and the club.’