Fleetwood 1-1 Arsenal (5-3 pens): Premier League champions dumped out of Carabao Cup by League Two side
Report and free match highlights as Arsenal lost to League Two Fleetwood on penalties; Aaron Loupalo-Bi put the fourth tier side ahead, Viktor Gyokeres equalised; Max Dowman was sent off with Bruno Guimaraes missing the crucial spot kick
Tuesday 27 October 2026 23:15, UK
Fleetwood Town produced one of the biggest shocks in Carabao Cup history as the League Two team dumped out Premier League champions Arsenal on penalties to reach the quarter-finals.
Mikel Arteta named a strong Arsenal side with Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz up front and Martin Odegaard playing the second half.
But they were not at the races, as the team two points above the League Two relegation zone took them to a 1-1 draw after Max Dowman was sent off before the shoot-out.
Then Bruno Guimaraes saw his penalty saved by Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch - who also made wonder saves to deny Ben White and Odegaard in stoppage time.
That left Conor Haughey to blast past Illan Meslier - picked by Arteta over penalty expert Kepa Arrizabalaga to make his Arsenal debut - to send Highbury mad.
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Fleetwood deserved the shoot-out after a bonkers start to the game. An unrecognised drone hovering over Highbury forced a seven-minute delay after 90 seconds.
Then Aaron Loupalo-Bi put the fourth tier side ahead after outmuscling 17-year-old defender Marli Salmon and poking past Meslier.
Arsenal responded after half-time as Viktor Gyokoeres bundled home his first of the season at the back post after good work from Northern Ireland teenager Cedach O'Neill - making his first start for the club.
But Havertz missed chance after chance. Then came a moment of contention as Dowman was shown his marching orders for apparently kicking out at Harrison Neal. The call was described as "really harsh" by Andy Hinchcliffe on Sky Sports commentary.
But this is Fleetwood's story. A non-league club as recently as 2012, they have now knocked out the reigning Premier League champions.
Arteta has no complaints over Arsenal mentality after loss
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to Sky Sports:
"First of all, congratulations to Fleetwood for going through to the next round in the manner they've done it.
"A really sad day for us. I cannot fault at all the attitude of the players, I haven't seen anybody not doing what is required at this level but we had so much of the ball, had so many chances, so many shots and if you want the margins to be bigger than going to penalties, you have to capitalise on that. We didn't and football is about that.
"It wasn't to do with attitude otherwise I would be here fuming. I'm sad, we're all sad.
"We have a responsibility to represent this badge in the best possible way. It was nothing to do with effort, application or determination to go and win it, but we lacked other things to create much bigger margins.
"With what we produced, it should have showed in the scoreline."
Merson: The biggest shock in Carabao Cup history
Fleetwood 1-1 Arsenal (5-3 pens)
Paul Merson on Sky Sports:
"Life is about memories and they've got one for life.
"You turn up tonight [Tuesday} and you think, 'how strong are Arsenal, they could get three or four', but fair play to them [Fleetwood]. And you won't see five penalties better than that. They were off the charts.
"For those lads to take those penalties. They'll be in history now for the biggest shock in the history of the League Cup.
"Odegaard is the only one who walks off the pitch tonight and all the Fleetwood players go 'what a player'. I can't believe what I've watched tonight."
Fleetwood boss: We didn't practice penalties
Fleetwood boss Matt Lawlor to Sky Sports on the penalties:
"I'm going to be honest, we haven't practised once. I'm not going to blag that we had some meticulous penalties, we haven't.
"The lads took care of themselves. We have a 19-year-old centre-back that took the last one. I was a little bit worried when he was walking up, but Conor [Haughey] backs himself.
"I don't think it will [sink it]. I've just told the players to enjoy it and we've got a league game on Saturday. I didn't want to be the bearer of reality, but we've got a game.
"I couldn't believe it. The biggest night in the club's history in terms of opposition coming to town and we've managed to beat the champions somehow.
"We're not egotistical enough to think we're going to play the best team in the country and outplay them, so we had to ride our luck, deny space, deny options for them and we did that really well for the majority of the game."
The key moments in normal time from Highbury Stadium
1: DRONE! An unrecognised drone stops play at Highbury for seven minutes as it caused a security risk. Referee Michael Salibsury wanted to take both sets of players off but play resumed almost straight away because the drone flew off.
10: OVER! After the restart, Piero Hincapie heads over Dowman's free-kick from close range.
20: BIG MISS! Dowman skews a shot wide when played through on goal by Salmon.
21: GOAL! Fleetwood go up the other end as Loupalo-Bi outmuscles Salmon to score past Meslier.
42: CHANCES! Jurrien Timber misses two chances to score after Havertz headed his cross over the bar.
50: GOAL! Arsenal score from their first chance of the second half as Gyokeres bundles the ball home from close range.
59: MISSES! Havertz misses two big chances in quick succession from close range - blazing over, then hitting the side netting.
65: MORE MISSES! Lewis-Skelly misses the latest of two big second half chances as he can't finish from a few yards out.
82: ALMOST! Fleetwood nearly snatch the win as Arsenal fail to clear and Will Davies sees a shot saved by Meslier.
90: OFF! Dowman is sent off after allegedly kicking out at Neal.
90+5: BIG SAVES! Lynch makes incredible double saves from White and Odegaard.
