Fleetwood knock Arsenal out on penalties to reach first League Cup quarter-final

Fleetwood Town eliminated Premier League champions Arsenal from the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, winning a penalty shootout 5-3 after a 1-1 draw at Highbury Stadium. BBC Sport reported that the result sent the League Two club into the competition's quarter-finals for the first time, against opponents ranked 84 places above them in English football.

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Aaron Loupalo-Bi put the hosts ahead in the 21st minute. The forward, on loan from Fulham, gave Fleetwood a first-half lead against a much-changed Arsenal team. According to RTE's match report, the visitors struggled to establish fluency before the interval, leaving Mikel Arteta's side needing a second-half response to avoid elimination.

Martin Odegaard and Ben White came on at half-time, and Arsenal equalised through Viktor Gyokeres after a cross from debutant Ceadach O'Neill. Jamie Braidwood's live coverage, carried by Newswav, described further chances as Arsenal pressed for a winner: Jay Lynch diverted a Kai Havertz effort onto the crossbar, while another opening ended with Havertz volleying into the side-netting.

Arsenal's task became more difficult late in the match when 16-year-old Max Dowman was sent off for kicking out following a challenge by Harrison Neal, an incident also reported by BBC Sport. The visitors still threatened with 10 players, but Lynch denied White near the end of normal time to help take the tie to penalties.

Fleetwood then converted every one of their five spot-kicks. Lynch stopped Bruno Guimaraes' attempt, giving Conor Haughey the opportunity to settle the contest. The teenage defender scored the decisive penalty, prompting supporters to spill onto the pitch. Arsenal had recovered from falling behind during the match but could not survive the shootout, ending their involvement in the competition at the fourth-round stage.

Afterwards, Fleetwood manager Matt Lawlor said his team had focused on restricting space rather than trying to outplay Arsenal, according to Braidwood's coverage of his Sky Sports interview. Lynch also said the players had drawn encouragement from Grimsby's victory over Manchester United in the previous season's competition. Their own win now takes Fleetwood into unfamiliar territory in the last eight.