Mikel Arteta has been praised for his conduct after Arsenal's shock Carabao Cup defeat to Fleetwood, with the Gunners boss showing more grace than Pep Guardiola did during one of his worst Manchester City losses. League Two Fleetwood stunned the Premier League champions, who had Max Dowman sent off late on, on penalties to advance to the quarter-finals after a 1-1 draw.
Bruno Guimaraes saw his spot-kick saved by Jay Lynch before Fleetwood's Conor Haughey lashed home to spark a pitch invasion as the Cod Army produced one of the greatest upsets in the competition's history.
Lawlor hails Arteta's sportsmanship
While Arteta isn't universally popular with rival clubs and fans, he showed his class in the aftermath of the defeat, with victorious Fleetwood boss Matt Lawlor hailing the Spaniard's sportsmanship.
He said: "He shook my hand two or three times and he was really, really gracious. I can imagine it's a really disappointing night for him.
"But the way that he acted there, with class, is amazing. I would love to catch up with him and pick his brains, but he's been really busy with media and all the emotions that come with it.
"We've not managed to cross paths, but he said well done in the tunnel briefly and how well we did, which is obviously a show of class from him."
Contrast with Guardiola's Wigan clash
It was a far cry from his mentor's conduct during City's FA Cup defeat to League One Wigan in 2018, when Arteta was part of Guardiola's coaching team. Following Fabian Delph's red card just before half-time, tensions boiled over, with Guardiola and Wigan boss Paul Cook clashing on the touchline.
The ruckus spilt into the tunnel area, where, helpfully, the BBC had placed a camera that showed the managers yelling at each other and needing to be restrained by staff. Wigan won 1-0 thanks to Will Grigg's early goal.
It's worth pointing out that this wasn't common behaviour from Guardiola following a defeat, which he generally accepted with good grace. But it was a notable difference from Arteta's magnanimous reaction to the Fleetwood loss.
Arteta's response to the defeat
The Gunners boss, who had named a strong team, said: "That is why football is entertainment, especially in this competition and in this country, things like that.
"They believe in it and the people have it because of the history. We didn't want to go through this and we are extremely sad but we need to congratulate the opponent."
