Fantastic Fleetwood seal shootout success in Carabao Cup shock against Arsenal
Fourth-tier Fleetwood produced one of the League Cup’s biggest ever shocks, defeating the champions 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw Here’s the Fleetwood head coach, Matt Lawlor: “We’ve had to make changes, with the champions in town.
Key points
- Arsenal have paid us a lot of respect by naming such a strong team … it’s a very difficult challenge, but one we should enjoy, and not be overawed.” “I was just thinking, with the two Highburys – I can only think of the St James(’) Parks (Exeter and Newcastle), but are there any other grounds with very similar names?” asks Shaun T.
- The home manager, Matt Lawlor, was almost in tears, unable to cope after the tension was released when Conor Haughey smashed the ball into the top corner to settle the shootout.
- It was the team with red shirts and white sleeves that triumphed, but on this occasion it caused one of the greatest upsets in English football history.
It is more than 20 years since Arsenal played at Highbury but their trip to League Two Fleetwood – and a stadium of the same name – did not bring back fond memories as they were dumped out of the Carabao Cup on penalties.
Additional details
- But we’ve got a plan with substitutions to manage the game.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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The Guardian SportOctober 27, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC →
The Guardian SportOctober 27, 2026, 10:26 PM UTC →
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