AFCON 2025
Reigning Premier League champions Arsenal have crashed out of the EFL Cup, losing 5-3 on penalties to fourth-tier Fleetwood Town after a 1-1 draw at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Gunners became the first Premier League holders to lose a League Cup tie to a fourth-tier club.
Fleetwood scored first. Aaron Loupalo-Bi finished off a slick home move in the 21st minute, and a much-changed Arsenal side struggled to respond despite holding most of the possession before the break.
Arsenal controlled possession as expected and Viktor Gyökeres equalised in the 50th minute. A Fleetwood defender cleared Kai Havertz’s shot off the line soon afterwards, while Jay Lynch then denied Ben White, and Havertz headed wide.
Late in normal time, 16-year-old Max Dowman received a straight red card for kicking out at Fleetwood’s Harrison Neal. Arsenal kept pushing with 10 men but could not find a winner.
Fleetwood scored all five of their spot-kicks. Bruno Guimarães missed Arsenal’s fourth, and Conor Haughey scored the decisive penalty to send the League Two side into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
Arsenal’s only other League Cup exit to a fourth-tier side came against Bradford City in the 2012-13 season, and they now turn their attention to a Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Saturday..
