Arsenal - Mikel Arteta
Arsenal - Mikel Arteta
Follow now.arsenal — add us as a preferred source on Google.
Arsenal were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, losing 5-3 on penalties to League Two side Fleetwood Town after a 1-1 draw.
The fourth-round tie took place at Fleetwood’s Highbury Stadium.
Fleetwood sit two points above the League Two relegation zone, it is one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s 66-year history.
Aaron Loupalo-Bi gave Fleetwood the lead in the 21st minute, outmuscling Marli Salmon before beating Illan Meslier.
Viktor Gyokeres levelled after the break, but Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch made several saves, including late stops to deny Ben White and Martin Odegaard.
Arsenal scored their first three penalties through Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Gyokeres. Lynch then saved Bruno Guimaraes’s fourth, and 19-year-old Conor Haughey scored the winner to take Fleetwood into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
The night also cost Arsenal Max Dowman.
The 16-year-old will miss Sunday’s Premier League trip to Liverpool after being sent off, and he is also expected to miss the home game against Hull City and the trip to Newcastle United.
Dowman, who started on the right, was shown a straight red card late in normal time for kicking out at Fleetwood’s Harrison Neal after a heavy challenge.
The incident sparked a brawl, and referee Michael Salisbury, who had no VAR available, sent him off for violent conduct.
The suspension is three matches and takes effect immediately. It covers Liverpool at Anfield on November 1 (kick-off 4:30pm UK time), Hull at the Emirates on November 7 and Newcastle on November 21.
Domestic bans do not apply in Europe, so Dowman can play in Arsenal’s Champions League tie at Slavia Praha on Wednesday, November 4. His next possible Premier League appearance is the home game against Manchester City on November 29.
Dowman had been Arsenal’s most dangerous player for much of the night. Before the game, Arteta told his young players to “give me a headache” and show they deserved more minutes with Bukayo Saka injured.
After the match, Arteta said the incident was hard to judge from the camera angles and that he wanted to watch it back.
Asked whether Dowman could learn from it, he replied: “Yeah, we all learn from everything.”
Sky Sports co-commentator Andy Hinchcliffe described the red card as harsh. It was Dowman’s first red card in senior football, and he was reportedly also sent off earlier this month while playing for England’s under-19s against the United States in Spain.
The suspension adds to Arsenal’s problems on the wing.
Saka has a quad injury sustained in the 2-2 Champions League draw with Bayern Munich and is reportedly out for six to eight weeks, while Christos Tzolis is still recovering from a hamstring problem.