Fleetwood Town 1-1 Arsenal (5-3 Pens) Report and Stats: 22/1 League Two minnow humble Premier League champions at Highbury
Check out our full match report and stats after League Two side Fleetwood Town dumped Premier League champions Arsenal out of the EFL Cup on Tuesday night.
Fleetwood Town v Arsenal Match Report
Fleetwood Town produced one of the greatest EFL Cup upsets of all-time after overcoming Premier League champions Arsenal in a remarkable penalty shootout to reach the quarter-finals.
Mikel Arteta's side were 1/20 to seal their spot in Wednesday night's draw for the last eight with the hosts a colossal 22/1 to dent the Gunners' silverware bid.
However, that ultimately proved for very little as Matt Lawlor's men produced a truly herculean effort to secure themselves of a first ever spot in the quarter-finals of the competition.
Arsenal, who were reduced to 10 men late on when youngster Max Dowman's frustrations boiled over following a heavy challenge from Harrison Neal, were guilty of spurning numerous opportunities, but don't let that take away from what the home side achieved.
Fulham loanee Aaron Loupalo-Bi set the wheels in motion for an historic night on the Fylde coast when he broke the deadlock 21 minutes in.
The forward used his strength to hold of the challenge of a couple of Gunners defenders, surged through on goal and superbly thumped the ball past the onrushing Ilian Meslier.
After Kai Havertz had missed a handful of chances to level matters for the visitors, Swedish star Viktor Gyokeres finally broke Fleetwood's resistance with his first domestic goal in almost six months shortly after the interval.
You expected last season's UEFA Champions League finalists to up the ante and take the game away from a side 84 places below them in the football ladder, though to the frustration of Arteta that never transpired.
Instead, the Cod Army, who had lost each of their last two fixtures leading into the encounter, defended for their lives with goalkeeper Jay Lynch coming to their rescue on the odd occasion his backline was breached.
A sensational save to deny substitute Ben White in the 91st minute felt hugely significant at the time, but the significance of that was dwarfed by the 33-year-old's penalty save to thwart Brazilian superstar Bruno Guimaraes a few moments later.
That save, the first and only missed penalty of the shootout, proved decisive as Northern Irishman Conor Haughey stepped up and displayed composure beyond his 19-years to fire the ball into the top corner to seal the most unlikely victory for his side.
Fleetwood Town v Arsenal Match Stats
Fleetwood Town | 1-1 | Arsenal |
22% | Possession | 78% |
0.26 | Expected Goals | 2.22 |
13 | Shots | 14 |
2 | Shots on Target | 7 |
5 | Goalkeeper Saves | 1 |
2 | Corners | 5 |
178 | Total passes | 641 |
14 | Fouls Committed | 5 |
29 | Total clearances | 21 |
3 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
0 | Red Cards | 1 |
*Match stats according to flashscore.com
Penalty Shootout Timeline - Fleetwood Town 5-3 Arsenal
- Ronan Coughlan (GOAL) - Fleetwood
- Martin Odegaard (GOAL) - Arsenal
- Harrison Neal (GOAL) - Fleetwood
- Kai Havertz (GOAL) - Arsenal
- Will Davies (GOAL) - Fleetwood
- Viktor Gyokeres (GOAL) - Arsenal
- Andy Cannon (GOAL) - Fleetwood
- Bruno Guimaraes (MISS) - Arsenal
- Conor Haughey (GOAL) - Fleetwood
