He saw little of the ball and on the two occasions he did manage to get a cross in he failed to reach the near post. He almost played in Ashley Cole late on but the ball just ran away from the Arsenal full-back.
Overall there were very few opportunities for Downing and his fellow debutant, Andy Johnson, to shine. Sven Goran Eriksson will have learnt very little from the game in terms of Downing and Johnson.