A drone, a red card, and a missed penalty - How Arsenal suffered shock defeat vs Fleetwood in Carabao Cup

Premier League champions Arsenal suffered a shock defeat in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday (Oct 27) as they lost to fourth-tier Fleetwood on penalties after regulation and extra time ended in a 1-1 tie. With the loss, the defending PL champions were knocked out of the tournament, leaving manager Mikel Arteta to proclaim it as 'a very sad day' for the club. The loss, however, wasn't without drama as it saw a drone interruption, a red card, and eventually a missed penalty. In the Premier League, Arsenal continue to be second behind Manchester City with 21 points from seven wins and one loss from eight matches played so far.

How Arsenal lost vs Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup

Fleetwood were given a lead in the 21st minute with Aaron Loupalo-Bi scoring for them. Arsenal went into half-time trailing 0-1 before Viktor Gyokeres scored the equalizer in the 50th minute. The next 35 minutes saw Arsenal pressing forward multiple times, but Fleetwood defended everything.

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Earlier, in the 2nd minute of the match, a drone was spotted hovering above Highbury Stadium, which led to an eight-minute stoppage before the game restarted in the 10th minute. Referee Michael Salisbury spoke to stadium security, both managers, and some players before he gave the go-ahead to restart the match.

In the 86th minute, Arsenal teenager Max Dowman, who had scored twice in his team's 4-2 win over Ipswich Town in the third round of the EFL Cup, received a red card. He was sent off after having an unacceptable reaction to a heavy challenge by Harrison Neal.

Arsenal vs Fleetwood penalty shootout

In the penalty shootout, Fleetwood took the first kick, with Ronan Coughlan scoring. Martin Odegaard equalized immediately for Arsenal before Neal, Will Davies, and Andy Cannon scored on their next three kicks. Arsenal remained in contention with Kai Havertz and Gyokeres scoring on their attempts, before Bruno Guimaraes missed and Conor Haughey secured the historic win for Fleetwood by scoring on the final kick.