{"id":2097,"date":"2026-10-28T07:18:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/a-very-sad-day-arteta-despair-as-arsenal-stunned-by-fleetwood\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T07:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:18:38","slug":"a-very-sad-day-arteta-despair-as-arsenal-stunned-by-fleetwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/a-very-sad-day-arteta-despair-as-arsenal-stunned-by-fleetwood\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A very sad day\u2019: Arteta despair as Arsenal stunned by Fleetwood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u2018A<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta said Arsenal\u2019s stunning League Cup defeat by fourth-tier Fleetwood was \u201ca very sad day\u201d as the Premier League champions suffered one of the most embarrassing results in their history.<\/p>\n

Arteta\u2019s side crashed out 5-3 on penalties in an incredible fourth round upset after the tie finished 1-1 in normal time.<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s Bruno Guimaraes had his penalty saved by Jay Lynch in the shoot-out and Conor Haughey scored Fleetwood\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n

Aaron Loupalo-Bi\u2019s first-half goal had put Fleetwood ahead before Viktor Gyokeres equalised after the interval.<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s 16-year-old rising star Max Dowman was sent off for violent conduct in the closing stages.<\/p>\n

Arteta paid the price for prioritising Sunday\u2019s Premier League trip to Liverpool as his decision to make nine changes backfired spectacularly.<\/p>\n

The Gunners boss conceded Arsenal could have no complaints, admitting it was a painful moment in his reign.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, congratulations to Fleetwood for going through the next round. The manner that they have done it, and for us a very sad day,\u201d Arteta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing to criticise the players for their attitude, their application.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe determination, you could see that was there from the start, even with 10 men. But we conceded a really poor goal to start with that gave them some momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we have so much of the ball, so many chances, so many shots, and if you want the margins to be bigger than going to the penalties, you need to capitalise on that. And we didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s football, that\u2019s the beauty of this competition. It\u2019s a very sad day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenal had moved level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City after a 2-0 victory over Everton on Saturday.<\/p>\n

But instead of extending their run of 11 wins from their 13 previous games, Arteta\u2019s team returned to north London red-faced after a loss that ranks among the darkest days in the club\u2019s glittering history.<\/p>\n

\u201cZero problem attitude-wise. Otherwise, I would be here absolutely fuming. I\u2019m sad, I think we are all sad. We have a massive responsibility to carry this badge in the best possible way,\u201d Arteta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t capitalise, then you cannot go through to the next round. Unfortunately, we are out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018I just can\u2019t believe it\u2019 \u2013<\/h2>\n

Although it looked a harsh decision to send off Dowman for aiming a kick towards Harrison Neal, Arteta was unimpressed with the 16-year-old, giving him a stern word as the midfielder trudged off.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that we discussed already before the match,\u201d Arteta said when asked what he told Dowman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to see on the cameras like that, so I prefer to watch it back properly and then I can assess the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleetwood made a mockery of the 84 places between the clubs in the English football system with a defiant display that stopped Arsenal establishing any momentum.<\/p>\n

Their refusal to be overawed by Arsenal\u2019s star-power was a tribute to Fleetwood boss Matt Lawlor, who won the tactical battle with Arteta by sitting deep and attacking on the counter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t believe it. The biggest night in the club\u2019s history in terms of opposition coming to town and we\u2019ve managed to beat the champions,\u201d Lawlor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not stupid enough and not egotistical enough that you think we\u2019re going to out-play the best team in the country and the most organised team in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we had to ride our luck, we had to deny space, we had to deny options for them. And I think we did that really, really well in terms of the majority of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Lawlor was composed during the match, his emotions poured out in his tearful celebration as jubilant Fleetwood fans invaded the pitch after the winning penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so glad that the lads have the feeling the way they are and took that performance into make that town, the club, everyone proud,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

The post \u2018A very sad day\u2019: Arteta despair as Arsenal stunned by Fleetwood<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta said Arsenal\u2019s stunning League Cup defeat by fourth-tier Fleetwood was \u201ca very sad day\u201d as the Premier League champions suffered one of the most embarrassing results in their… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}