Arsenal loses to 4th-tier Fleetwood on penalties in English League Cup stunner

Arsenal was beaten by fourth-tier Fleetwood Town in a penalty shootout in one of the biggest upsets in the 66-year history of the English League Cup on Tuesday.

Fleetwood converted all of its spot kicks against the Premier League champion and won 5-3 in the shootout in the last 16 after Bruno Guimaraes had a penalty saved.

The match finished 1-1 in regulation at the 5,300-capacity Highbury Stadium, the home ground of Fleetwood that bears the same name as Arsenal’s former home stadium from 1913-2006.

Eighty-four positions separated the teams in the English soccer pyramid and Fleetwood, which had never reached this stage of the competition before, was the lowest-ranked club left in the draw.

Jubilant home fans streamed onto the field after Conor Haughey dispatched the clinching penalty.

Arsenal didn’t field a full-strength team — first-team stars like Declan Rice, Gabriel and David Raya were missing — but manager Mikel Arteta still picked a strong lineup containing seasoned internationals, with captain Martin Odegaard even thrown on at halftime with Fleetwood leading 1-0.

Viktor Gyokeres equalized in the 50th minute but Arsenal struggled to create many clear-cut chances after that and had 16-year-old prodigy Max Dowman sent off for kicking out at an opponent in the 85th. Dowman appeared to get a rebuke from Arteta as he left the field.

Little-known Fleetwood is Jamie Vardy’s former club

Fleetwood, which is a coastal town in northwest England and is languishing in 18th place in League Two, is most famous for being the team where former England and Leicester striker Jamie Vardy made his name. He was there for just one season and helped Fleetwood gain promotion out of the fifth tier, and into the English Football League, before getting a move to Leicester in 2012.

In 2023, Fleetwood’s former owner, Andy Pilley, was handed a 13-year jail sentence for fraud. He lost an appeal in February this year.

Another shootout loss for Arsenal

Arsenal also lost its previous penalty shootout — against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest at the end of last season.

This latest one was in less glamorous surroundings but was much more embarrassing.

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Steve Douglas, The Associated Press