Arsenal Player Ratings vs. Fleetwood: Gunners’ Quadruple Dream Goes Up in Smoke

Arsenal are out of the Carabao Cup after a shock elimination at the hands of EFL League Two’s Fleetwood Town on Tuesday.

The Gunners floundered, failing to get the job done in 90 minutes after initially falling behind and finishing the contest with 10 players following Max Dowman’s first career red card. After ending 1–1 at regular time, they ultimately fell 5–3 in a penalty shootout that decided the fourth-round tie.

The Gunners should have felt a degree of comfort taking to the field at Highbury Stadium on England’s west coast, the venue sharing the name of Arsenal’s beloved home from 1913 until 2006. Fleetwood even play in red jerseys with white sleeves.

But that’s not how the evening unfolded.

The match had to stop only a few minutes after kick off because of a drone being flown above the pitch. But Arsenal were unsurprisingly in control of the ball once the action did resume after the lengthy pause, and the visitors threatened without really putting Fleetwood in serious peril.

Then came the moment every Fleetwood fan dreamed of but probably doubted would become reality. There was nothing remarkable about the buildup, with Harrison Neal knocking the ball forward, and then Aaron Loupalo-Bi just using his strength to hold off 17-year-old Arsenal center back Marli Salmon and unleash a finish beneath stand-in goalkeeper Illan Meslier.

Arsenal never really looked like leveling the game until after halftime, when Martin Ødegaard was introduced and started asking more questions than his teammates had done.

The tide began to change, although there was nothing pretty about the 50th-minute equalizer from Viktor Gyökeres, getting enough on the ball after a cross from teenage debutant Ceadach O’Neill wasn’t dealt with by the Fleetwood defense.

Even then, Arsenal didn’t steamroll their opponent. Kai Havertz missed two excellent chances in the minutes that followed and the early second-half momentum slowed all too easily. Fleetwood looked like they would tire—it’s way more draining to play without possession—but continued to close spaces and fight for every ball.

It was a strong but ultimately fair challenge from Fleetwood’s Neal on Dowman that sparked the 16-year-old’s dismissal with five minutes of the 90 to play. There was no arm around the shoulder from Arteta as the academy gem trudged off the field towards the tunnel, instead receiving what appeared to be a few harsh words from the boss.

Arsenal tried to win it before the shootout, but goalkeeper Jay Lynch made two enormous saves in the final moments.

With no extra time, Fleetwood’s Ronan Coughlan began the shootout by converting with a Bruno Fernandes-esque hop. Ødegaard and Neal traded successes, before Havertz also found the net to make it 2–2 in the tiebreaker. Will Davies wasn’t fazed by the ball appearing to wobble on the spot in the wind, but neither was Gyökeres straight after. Andy Cannon restored Fleetwood’s lead, and then Bruno Guimarães wilted under the pressure, handing over match point. Conor Haughey took it.

One Thing We Can’t Ignore

The biggest of dreams is already over by the end of October. Arsenal were targeting an unprecedented quadruple, but where was the depth when it was needed?

Mikel Arteta gave the night off to the Gunners contingent who were at the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday night. Even without them—Declan Rice, Gabriel, David Raya and the injured Bukayo Saka, it should not have been this hard.

Arsenal still started with seven internationals—with plenty more on the bench, a goalkeeper with 200 Premier League and Championship appearances and a generational teenager.

Fleetwood currently sit 18th in League Two, which makes them the 86th best team out of all 92 members of the Premier League and EFL. Arsenal are reigning English champions and are only off the top of the Premier League on goal difference.

Mikel Arteta’s ideal scenario for this match would have been his team comfortably leading, thereby allowing him to both protect his senior players and hand opportunities to emerging youngsters. In the end, he couldn’t risk using any of the kids on the bench, while none of the three teenagers who started the match finished it. The boss could have done with resting Martin Ødegaard, Ben White, Eberechi Eze, Bruno Guimarães and Ezri Konsa but was forced to use all five.

Arsenal Player Ratings vs. Fleetwood (4-2-3-1)

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

GK: Illan Meslier—6.2: A slightly surprising choice to start over Kepa Arrizabalaga when he hasn’t played a single competitive match in well over a year. Didn’t get close to a save in the shootout, allowing all five penalties to be scored.

RB: Jurriën Timber—6.5: Captained Arsenal for the first time but only lasted until halftime. He struggled, so it’s hard to say if it was in response to that or pre-planned given how his minutes have also been carefully managed this season.

CB: Cristhian Mosquera—7.5: Fleetwood didn’t create much beyond their goal, which was on the Spaniard’s partner rather than him. He put up good numbers.

CB: Marli Salmon—6.9: Certainly confident receiving and playing the ball, but a lack of experience in senior soccer and physical maturity proved costly in conceding.

LB: Piero Hincapié—8.2: Won 11 of 13 duels and was often in an advanced position on the left. Created the joint-most chances (3) in the match, but that probably says more about his attacking teammates who didn’t cut the mustard in this one.

CM: Martín Zubimendi—7.5: Pass, pass, pass. Safe, but limited.

CM: Myles Lewis-Skelly—6.6: Hard to tell what his impact was.

RM: Max Dowman—6.4: Perhaps Arsenal’s brightest spark in the first half, but it was a low bar. The nature of his red card hints at a lack of maturity, which is understandable at his age.

AM: Kai Havertz—7.5: Got into all the right positions and should have had a hat trick with the chances he missed. At least he scored his shootout penalty.

LM: Ceadach O’Neill—6.9: Not an outstanding performance but made the equalizing goal possible with a dangerous cross into the box.

ST: Viktor Gyökeres—7.5: His goal was scrappy to say the least. Didn’t get enough service.

SUB: Martin Ødegaard (46’ for Salmon)—7.7: Made a positive impact.

SUB: Ben White (46’ for Timber)—6.8: Left wondering how he didn’t score a late winner.

SUB: Eberechi Eze (66’ for O’Neill)—7.0: Created three chances in 24 minutes. Maybe he should have started.

SUB: Bruno Guimarães (82’ for Zubimendi)—N/A

SUB: Ezri Konsa (82’ for Lewis-Skelly)—N/A:

Subs not used: Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK), Marcell Washington, Maalik Hashi, Andre Harriman-Annous.

What the Ratings Tell Us

• Arsenal had it relatively easy defensively. The Fleetwood goal in the first half aside, there wasn’t all that much for the Gunners to do at the back, which put even more onus onto trying to break through at the other end.
• Martin Ødegaard made Arsenal much better after coming on at halftime.
• Was Arteta’s faith in his teenage trio misplaced? Marli Salmon was at fault for the goal conceded, Max Dowman was sent off and Ceadach O’Neill, despite his role in the equalizer, only managed one successful dribble out of four, and one successful cross out of five.

The Numbers That Explain This Crazy Cup Shock

• Arsenal had enough of the ball, took enough shots and created enough opportunities to win this game comfortably. Critically, the Gunners missed five big chances.
• To draw 1–1 when you outweigh the opponent in xG by 2.21 to 0.26 is borderline criminal.
• Fleetwood were never going to outplay Arsenal, not even completing 100 successful passes. Their only chance was to snatch a goal, make it physical and defend for their lives.