Fleetwood win the penalties after Arsenal are reduced to ten
Fleetwood Town1 – 1Arsenal 
Arsenal had 26 shots and most of the ball at Highbury, but Fleetwood Town came out ahead once the penalties began.
Max Dowman's red card in the 85th minute meant Arsenal finished this League Cup tie at Highbury with ten men. Penalties began in the 91st minute, and the sequence that followed decided a match that had been level at 1-1 since Viktor Gyökeres scored early in the second half.
Arsenal's chances were of a different order to Fleetwood's. They had 26 shots, 23 of them from inside the box, and an expected goals figure of 2.29. Expected goals, or xG, gives each shot a score for how likely it was to go in, so a total above two means a side created several good openings. Across this league the average side manages 1.67 and 13.4 shots a match, so Arsenal's attacking was well above the norm.
Ball possession
Fleetwood had only three shots, two of them on target, and an xG of 0.34. That is far below their own normal, because across their three home games this season they averaged 7.3 shots. They did hold more of the ball than usual, 45% against a home average of 35.7%, but they rarely troubled the Arsenal goal. Their lead came in the 21st minute, when Aaron Loupalo-Bi finished after a pass from Harrison Neal.
Gyökeres, who had three shots and two on target, equalised in the 50th minute and was rated 7.9 for his evening. The sides' goalkeepers told a similar story from the other end: J. Lynch made five saves for Fleetwood, while the Arsenal keeper made just one. Arsenal also had 10 shots blocked, which shows how many efforts were charging towards the Fleetwood box before a defender got in the way. Arsenal completed 566 of their 641 passes, almost nine in ten, yet that control did not produce a second goal in open play.
The penalties came quickly after the 91st minute. Fleetwood scored five of their kicks and Arsenal three, with Bruno Guimarães the only player to miss. Ronan Coughlan, Harrison Neal, Will davies, Andy Cannon and Conor Haughey were Fleetwood's scorers, and Haughey's kick was the last one that counted. Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Gyökeres converted for Arsenal before Guimarães's miss settled the sequence.
Arsenal's recent form had been strong, with four wins, one draw and one defeat in their last six matches. Their numbers this evening suggest the attacking side of their game is still in working order, but the sending off and the penalties left them with a result that falls short of what their chances deserved.
Fleetwood had won all three of their home games this season without conceding a goal, so Gyökeres's equaliser was the first goal they had let in at Highbury in that run.
A. Loupalo-Bi1 goal
V. Gyökeres1 goal
P. Hincapié3 chances created
M. Ødegaard3 chances created