Arsenal: Meslier, Timber, Salmon, Mosquera, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, O’Neill, Havertz, Gyokeres
Subs: Kepa, White, Odegaard, Eze, Konsa, Guimaraes, Harriman-Annous, Washington, Hashi
Arsenal's line-up (4-2-3-1): Illan Meslier, Jurriën Timber (off 46'), Cristhian Mosquera, Marli Salmon (off 45'), Piero Hincapié, Martín Zubimendi (off 82'), Myles Lewis-Skelly (off 82'), Max Dowman, Kai Havertz, Ceadach O'Neill (off 66'), Viktor Gyökeres. Substitutes: Martin Ødegaard (on 45' for Marli Salmon), Ben White (on 46' for Jurriën Timber), Eberechi Eze (on 66' for Ceadach O'Neill), Ezri Konsa (on 82' for Myles Lewis-Skelly), Bruno Guimarães (on 82' for Martín Zubimendi), Kepa Arrizabalaga, Andre Harriman-Annous, Marcell Washington, Maalik Hashi. Manager: Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal's line-up (4-2-3-1): Illan Meslier, Jurriën Timber (off 46'), Cristhian Mosquera, Marli Salmon (off 45'), Piero Hincapié, Martín Zubimendi (off 82'), Myles Lewis-Skelly (off 82'), Max Dowman, Kai Havertz, Ceadach O'Neill (off 66'), Viktor Gyökeres. Substitutes: Martin Ødegaard (on 45' for Marli Salmon), Ben White (on 46' for Jurriën Timber), Eberechi Eze (on 66' for Ceadach O'Neill), Ezri Konsa (on 82' for Myles Lewis-Skelly), Bruno Guimarães (on 82' for Martín Zubimendi), Kepa Arrizabalaga, Andre Harriman-Annous, Marcell Washington, Maalik Hashi. Manager: Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal crashed out of the Carabao Cup against League Two Fleetwood Town after drawing 1-1 in normal time, before losing 5-3 on penalties despite a second half equaliser from Viktor Gyokeres.
Mikel Arteta made ten changes from the side that beat Everton on Saturday, with Gyokeres the only survivor from the weekend win.
There were starts for Hale End stars Marli Salmon and Max Dowman, alongside 18-year-old Ceadach O’Neill who earned his call up after a string of impressive academy performances.
FIRST HALF
With less than two minutes on the clock, referee Michael Salisbury stopped play due to a drone flying directly above the stadium and eventually – after an eight minute stoppage – play resumed with Piero Hincapie heading over from close range.
There was a golden chance for Max Dowman to increase his goal tally in this competition, after a fortunate break of the ball basically played him through on goal but he scuffed his effort wide and missed Viktor Gyokeres sliding in alongside him.
Despite Arsenal having all the ball and most of the chances, Fleetwood took a shock lead through Aaron Loupalo-Bi who did well to hold off Marli Salmon before composing himself and slotting a left-footed strike through the legs of debutant goalkeeper Ilan Meslier. 1-0.
That goal seemed to rattle the Champions who suddenly became careless in possession, with Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera both guilty of giving the ball away under little pressure – hopefully just a case of them shaking off some rust.
Dowman was seeing plenty of the ball and the 16-year-old created a good chance for Havertz who probably should have equalised after arriving late in the box but skewed a simple header well wide.
Dowman was at the centre of things again with Arsenal ‘pushing’ for an equaliser, whipping in another great delivery which found Jurrien Timber but he headed wide from a decent position and that summed the visitors’ first half up quite nicely.
There was plenty of work for Mikel Arteta to do at half time – and probably more than he expected.
SECOND HALF
The Spaniard wasted little time changing things with Ben White and Martin Odegaard introduced right away, replacing Timber (which might have been pre-planned) and Salmon who was outmuscled for the opener.
Arsenal instantly looked more energetic and they equalised within five minutes of the restart through Gyokeres who bundled home his first of the season. It was a good switch of play initially from White to spot Ceadach O’Neill, who sent a good ball into the box which bounced nicely for the striker who reacted quickest to slot home from close range. 1-1.
Odegaard was completely running the game by that point and he was involved again to set Dowman away out wide, whose shot was well saved by goalkeeper Jay Lynch before some incredible – and completely lucky – defending from the head of Finley Potter denied Havertz scoring a simple rebound.
Havertz was having a difficult night and he missed another good chance after being played through by Odegaard, before he could have turned creator after being slipped through by Odegaard (again) but he delayed his cutback and a Fleetwood defender was able to block in front of Myles Lewis-Skelly.
With 25 minutes to go, Arteta looked to his bench again and brought on Eze to replace O’Neill who had some good second half moments. Ezri Konsa and Bruno Guimaraes followed soon after with Lewis-Skelly and Martin Zubimendi going off.
Unfortunately for Arsenal the game quietened down again and with the full time whistle approaching, Dowman was sent off after reacting to a shocking challenge that was made to injure and/or rile him up by the touchline. RED CARD.
The teenager shouldn’t have reacted but the decision to show red for minimal contact into the Fleetwood player was ridiculous, although Arteta did not look pleased with the teenager as he walked off the pitch.
There was still time for the Gunners to win it and Ben White thought he had, after ghosting in at the back post to slot home a teasing cross from Eze – but his effort was somehow saved on the line by Lynch – before Havertz headed wide in injury time to compound a miserable performance from him.
That brought the tie to penalties with nothing separating the sides at full time – with all the pressure on Arsenal as Fleetwood eyed a historic upset.
Match stats for Fleetwood Town v Arsenal: Possession 22% - 78%, Total shots 3 - 26, Shots on target 2 - 7, Shots off target 0 - 9, Shots inside box 3 - 23, Big chances 2 - 6, Corners 2 - 5, Offsides 3 - 3, Fouls 14 - 5, Yellow cards 3 - 0, Red cards 0 - 1, Saves 5 - 1, Passes 180 - 641, Pass accuracy 55% - 88%, Tackles 18 - 16, Interceptions 12 - 8.
PENALTY SHOOTOUT
After Fleetwood scored all four of their opening four penalties, Bruno Guimaraes stepped up to level things again (after Odegaard, Havertz and Gyokeres all scored for the Gunners) but saw his penalty saved by Lynch low down to his left.
That gave Fleetwood and Conor Haughey the opportunity to win and he slotted past Meslier, sending the Frenchman the wrong way which concluded one of the biggest upsets in the history of English football – sparking a huge pitch invasion at Highbury.