Arsenal were eliminated from the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening after a penalty shoot-out defeat to League Two side Fleetwood Town, one of the competition's biggest upsets. On the same night, the club's Under-21 team secured a 2-1 win over AFC Wimbledon in the Jersey Mike's Trophy.
Penalty shoot-out defeat
Aaron Loupalo-Bi gave Fleetwood a first-half lead before Viktor Gyokeres equalised in the 50th minute. Arsenal could not find a further goal, and Max Dowman was sent off in the closing stages of normal time. The tie went to penalties, with Fleetwood holding their nerve to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
The result left Mikel Arteta visibly frustrated during his post-match media interviews. The Arsenal boss named a rotated side for the trip to Highbury Stadium, with Martin Zubimendi, Jurrien Timber, Kai Havertz and Myles Lewis-Skelly all starting.
Under-21s victory
Arsenal's Under-21s were also in action on Tuesday, facing AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane. Ethan Mooney's double secured a 2-1 victory for David Horseman's side, who claimed all three points in the group stage of the Jersey Mike's Trophy. Wimbledon compete in League One, a higher division than Fleetwood.
Arteta's reaction
Speaking after the final whistle, Arteta said: "First of all, congratulations to Fleetwood because they are through. In the manner that they've done it, the atmosphere they've created, I have nothing to fault the players for in terms of their attitude, application, the intensity that they put in throughout the game."
"After the goal that we conceded, they did it throughout the game, they did it with 11 players, with 10, so there is nothing there. But, when you are that superior, you give nothing to the opponent apart from the first action that we defended so poorly and we conceded the goal, and you generate so many situations, actions, volume of shots and chances in the opposition box."
"You have to score three, four or five and then you capitalise on that and you see the difference in the game. If you don't, then there are no margins and that's the reality, and then you have to wait and get through the round on penalties and we didn't do that. So, the probability is always there. It was really low, the way the game was panning out, but it's football and even with that really low probability, you can be out of the cup and we are."
