Carabao Cup: Why Arsenal lost to Fleetwood Town – Arteta

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has blamed the poor goal his team conceded against Fleetwood Town for giving the hosts momentum during their Carabao Cup encounter.

The Gunners were eliminated from the competition on Tuesday night after losing on penalties to the League Two side following a 1-1 draw.

Fleetwood took the lead through Aaron Loupalo-Bi before Arsenal responded after the break, with Viktor Gyökeres scoring to bring the visitors level.

The match eventually went to a penalty shoot-out, where Fleetwood secured a 5-3 victory to advance to the next round. Arsenal midfielder Bruno Guimarães missed his spot-kick, which proved costly for Arteta’s side.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Arteta congratulated Fleetwood on their achievement but admitted that the result was a disappointing one for Arsenal.

“First 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,” the Arsenal manager said.

Arteta defended his players’ commitment and effort, insisting that their attitude and determination were not the problem. “There is nothing to criticise the players for their attitude, their application,” he stated.

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He added, “The determination – you could see that was there from the start. Even with 10 men, we conceded a really poor goal to start with that gave them some momentum.” The Arsenal boss believes the concession of that goal played a significant role in the team’s eventual elimination.