October 28 – League Two strugglers Fleetwood Town stunned Arsenal to knockout the English champions out of the Carabao Cup following a penalty shootout.
Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes had his penalty saved by Fleetwood’s goalkeeper Jay Lynch before teenage defender Conor Haughey converted his spotkick to hand his club a 5-3 penalty shootout victory following a 1-1 draw in one of the League Cup’s greatest upsets.
Arsenal had not enjoyed a good return to ‘Highbury’ after Fulham loanee Aaron Loupalo-Bi scored for the hosts in the 21st minute. Without Declan Rice and Gabriel, Mikel Arteta’s side struggled for fluidity and after the break, Martin Odegaard’s introduction helped Arsenal get back into the match.
Swedish striker Victor Gyokeres equalised with his first goal of the season and both Ben White and Odegaard had fine attempts saved. Five minutes from time, teenage prodigy Max Dowman was sent off.
In a news conference, Arteta reflected on the elimination: “I have nothing to fault the players for their attitude and intensity throughout the game, with 11 and with 10, but when you are playing in that superior way, you have to give nothing to the opponent. When we create the volume of shots and chances we did, you have to score three, four or five. You capitalise on it. If you don’t, there are no margins, and that’s the reality.”
Fleetwood advance to the last eight of the league cup for the first time in their history. On Saturday, they host Bristol Rovers in League Two.
Contact the writer of this story at samindra.kunti@insideworldfootball.com