Arteta paid the price for prioritising Monday\u2019s (NZT) Premier League trip to Liverpool as his decision to make nine changes backfired spectacularly.<\/p>\n
No one would have predicted Arsenal\u2019s embarrassment regardless of Arteta\u2019s selection gamble.<\/p>\n
They had moved level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City after a 2-0 victory over Everton on Sunday (NZT).<\/p>\n
But instead of extending their run of 11 wins from their 13 previous games, Arsenal returned to North London red-faced after a loss that ranks among the darkest days in the club\u2019s glittering history.<\/p>\n
Arsene Wenger\u2019s Arsenal suffered a shock League Cup loss against fourth-tier Bradford on penalties in 2012.<\/p>\n
Arteta\u2019s team were beaten by second-tier Southampton in the FA Cup last season and also lost to Nottingham Forest, then in the Championship, in the same competition in 2022.<\/p>\n
Supporters of an older vintage will recall Arsenal\u2019s 1969 League Cup final loss against third-tier Swindon and their 1992 FA Cup exit at fourth-tier Wrexham.<\/p>\n
But even those painful defeats cannot compare to this remarkable result.<\/p>\n
For once, Arsenal fans will not have fond memories of Highbury \u2013 Fleetwood\u2019s ground shares the same name as the Gunners\u2019 ancestral home before their move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood\u2019s tiny 5327-capacity ground \u2013 where goals are celebrated with a burst of children\u2019s cartoon song Captain Pugwash over the tannoy \u2013 is a far cry from the famous marble halls and dignified grandeur of Arsenal\u2019s former stadium.<\/p>\n
Now it will be remembered forever as the site of Arsenal\u2019s most chastening loss in the Arteta era.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood boss Matt Lawlor wept tears of joy as disbelieving fans flooded the pitch to celebrate their club\u2019s astonishing victory.<\/p>\n
Only Myles Lewis-Skelly and Viktor Gyokeres kept their places from the Everton game, with teenagers Dowman and Marli Salmon starting, while 18-year-old winger Ceadach O\u2019Neill made his debut.<\/p>\n
Languishing in 18th place in League Two \u2013 84 places below their Premier League opponents in the football pyramid \u2013 Fleetwood had lost their previous two league games against Exeter and Cheltenham, yet they showed no signs of being intimidated by their illustrious visitors.<\/p>\n
After an eight-minute delay due to an unauthorised drone flying over the stadium, Arsenal were caught cold on a windy night by the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood are nicknamed \u201cThe Fishermen\u201d and their fans the \u201cCod Army\u201d in reference to the town\u2019s fishing industry, so it was somewhat fitting that a mistake from Salmon netted their opener in the 21st minute.<\/p>\n
Salmon\u2019s lack of experience was brutally exposed when Loupalo-Bi muscled his way past the 17-year-old with ease, racing into the penalty area to plant a low finish past debutant keeper Illan Meslier.<\/p>\n
Arsenal monopolised possession after that shock, but Arteta grew visibly agitated with their lack of cutting edge.<\/p>\n
Arteta sent on Martin Odegaard at halftime and Gyokeres bagged Arsenal\u2019s equaliser five minutes later.<\/p>\n
It was a scrappy effort that left Fleetwood feeling aggrieved as Gyokeres wrestled with his marker before poking O\u2019Neill\u2019s ball past Lynch from close range.<\/p>\n
Dowman saw red in the 85th minute, dismissing for kicking out at Harrison Neal after a strong challenge from the Fleetwood midfielder.<\/p>\n
Although it looked a harsh decision, Arteta was unimpressed with Dowman, giving him a stern word as the midfielder trudged off.<\/p>\n
Both teams scored their first three penalties in the shootout, but Guimaraes was denied by Lynch and Haughey held his nerve to seal the biggest shock in League Cup history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arteta paid the price for prioritising Monday\u2019s (NZT) Premier League trip to Liverpool as his decision to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49537,3595,31100,10542,10803,189699,315402,1861,83883,78,14731,315403,3025,111,139,69,23941,14730,11791,213,20247,31145,165,1865,2951,3608],"class_list":["post-643339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-arsenal","tag-by","tag-champions","tag-cup","tag-defeats","tag-fleetwood","tag-fourthtier","tag-history","tag-humiliating","tag-in","tag-league","tag-minnows","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-penalty","tag-premier","tag-shootout","tag-sports","tag-stunned","tag-suffered","tag-their","tag-today","tag-town","tag-were"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}