Mikel Arteta has described Arsenal’s League Cup exit at the hands of fourth-tier Fleetwood Town as “a very sad day”, after the Premier League champions were beaten 5-3 on penalties at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday night. The fourth round tie ended 1-1 in normal time, with Arsenal reduced to 10 men after 16-year-old Max Dowman was sent off late in the game. The defeat made Arsenal the first defending Premier League champions to be knocked out of the competition by a side from the fourth tier.
Fleetwood went into the game 18th in League Two, with 84 places separating the two clubs in the English football pyramid. They had also failed to win any of their previous five meetings with Premier League opposition. On Tuesday, they reached the League Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
Aaron Loupalo-Bi, a teenager on loan at Fleetwood, gave the hosts the lead in the 21st minute, driving past Arsenal’s young centre-back Marli Salmon before finishing into the far corner. Viktor Gyokeres levelled after the break, and Arsenal pushed hard for a winner. Their frustration boiled over in the 85th minute when Dowman was shown a straight red card for kicking out at a Fleetwood player after a heavy challenge.
The match figures show how one-sided the contest was, and how little it counted in the end. Arsenal had 78 per cent of possession and 26 shots, and created chances worth 2.21 expected goals. Fleetwood managed three shots in 90 minutes, two of them on target, with an expected goals figure of just 0.26. Goalkeeper Jay Lynch kept them in the tie, producing saves from Ben White and Martin Odegaard in stoppage time.
Both sides scored their first three penalties in the shoot-out. Lynch then saved from Bruno Guimaraes, and Conor Haughey, another Fleetwood teenager, converted the decisive kick to spark a pitch invasion by home supporters. Fleetwood scored all five of their penalties.
Arteta made nine changes from the side that beat Everton 2-0 on Saturday, a result that took Arsenal level on points with league leaders Manchester City. The rotation was made with Sunday’s trip to Liverpool in mind. Even so, his team still included Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and, after the interval, Odegaard. Arsenal had won 11 of their previous 13 games before Tuesday.
The Arsenal manager refused to blame his players’ attitude. “There is nothing to criticise the players for their attitude, their application,” he said. He pointed instead to a poor goal conceded early and the failure to turn dominance into goals. “You don’t capitalise, then you cannot go through to the next round. Unfortunately, we are out,” Arteta said.
Dowman’s dismissal drew attention because of his age and Arteta’s visible displeasure as the midfielder left the pitch. Asked what he said to the teenager, the Spaniard said the matter had been discussed before the game. He added that he would review the incident properly before making any judgement. It was Arsenal’s first red card in the competition in five years.
For Fleetwood manager Matt Lawlor, the night was a reward for discipline. He said his side knew they could not outplay the champions and chose instead to sit deep, deny space and break on the counter. “I just can’t believe it,” Lawlor said, describing it as the biggest night in the club’s history. He also admitted that his players had not practised penalties before the game.
The result revives memories of Arsenal’s only previous League Cup exit to fourth-tier opposition, when Arsene Wenger’s side lost on penalties to Bradford City in the 2012/13 season. Arsenal have not won the competition since 1993, and their wait for a third League Cup title will now run into another season.
Attention now turns to Anfield on Sunday, where Arsenal will try to keep pace with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. Fleetwood, meanwhile, will await the quarter-final draw and return to the business of climbing away from the lower reaches of League Two.