Max Dowman will start his three-game ban when Arsenal face Liverpool on Sunday but Mikel Arteta could have four other stars available to him following injury layoffs

Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal gem Max Dowman will use his Fleetwood red card to become a better player. The Spaniard held honest face-to-face talks with the dejected 16-year-old at the club's training ground on Thursday to put the debacle to bed after the FA confirmed they would not overturn his three-match suspension for violent conduct.

Arteta is adamant Dowman is simply too good to let the ordeal define him, explaining: "When you play for Arsenal, you're going to have highs and lows. You have to be prepared for that. It doesn't matter the age.

"So don't feel sorry for yourself. That happened. Those things happen. Make sure that you are humble enough to recognise that and to learn from it and work on it.

"That shows you as well that there are many things that you have to be so good at to sustain the level and to maintain a certain level when you play for a club like us.

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"And that's what he needs to do. And he has the talent, he has the will and he has the capacity and the brain to do it. No question about that."

The situation is largely why Arteta has been so desperate to wrap the teenager in cotton wool. He believes everyone, including the media, has a responsibility to protect English football's brightest young prospect, adding: "I think we discussed a week ago how many players in the history of the Premier League have done what Max is doing and there isn't one.

"So it's something new and as new, we'll do things well, I will do things well, I will do things not so well, I will try to learn as quick as possible, protect him as much as possible. But at the same time it's at the level that we are in and we are here to win football matches and to perform at the highest level, that's it."

While Dowman and Bukayo Saka won't be available to face Liverpool at Anfield, Declan Rice, Christos Tzolis and Riccardo Calafiori will, providing there are no late setbacks. Arteta confirmed that all three trained on Friday while Noni Madueke is also in contention to play following a recent ankle issue.

Arteta has challenged the England international, who is pushing for an international recall, to step up in the absence of Saka. "He's getting closer [to reaching the next level] but he needs to do it and he needs to make that click and that's what the top elite players do," Arteta said.

"He has all the potential to do it, he has all the attributes to do it, he certainly has the will to do it because when you see him train every single day, he's one of the players that enjoys practicing the most and wants to expose himself to all kinds of situations and actions. Now he needs to put the performance on the pitch."

Arteta was a player the last time Arsenal won at Anfield in the Premier League and now he's determined to end that hoodoo, concluding: "Well, [we're] going there with full conviction, that's number one and we've been very, very close in the last few years to win.

"But something is missed and that we've been discussing the last few days, to go there with a real purpose to help them and get away from there with a victory."