Arsenal's Fleetwood defeat named biggest Cup upset ever by Oliver Holt
Arsenal's shock Carabao Cup exit at the hands of League Two Fleetwood Town has been ranked as the single greatest cup upset ever witnessed by the Daily Mail's chief sports writer Oliver Holt, ahead of Messi's humbling by Saudi Arabia, Liverpool's Miracle of Istanbul and England's defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
Fleetwood, sitting 84 places below Arsenal in the English football pyramid, beat the Premier League champions 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday night in the League Cup fourth round. Conor Haughey, a 19 year old Northern Irish left back, scored the winning spot kick in a shootout that saw Fleetwood convert all five of their penalties despite, according to Holt, not having practised them beforehand.
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Holt placed the result top of his personal top 10 list of cup shocks, writing: “Straight in at the top of my list. Nothing against Arsenal, who took the game seriously and behaved with class and dignity, but there was something life affirming about being at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday night to see a team near the foot of League Two knock out the champions of England.”
He continued: “Fleetwood's win on penalties summed up so much of the magic and the eccentricity of cup competitions in England. A drone delaying play, a gale raging through the stadium, a remote outpost of our game, a team that had not practised penalties scoring all five of their kicks, a stadium with a 5,000 capacity, a club whose fans are known as the Cod Army. It had everything. At a time when there is so much cynicism in the English game, when Manchester City have been found guilty of serial cheating, this felt like an antidote.”
Where it ranks among football's great shocks
Holt's list placed the Fleetwood result above some of the most famous results in the sport's history, including Argentina's opening game defeat to Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup, Liverpool's comeback from 3-0 down against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, and Manchester City's FA Cup final loss to Wigan Athletic in 2013. Also featured were Plymouth Argyle's win over Liverpool in last season's FA Cup and England's infamous Euro 2016 exit to Iceland.
Fallout from the night
The defeat has already produced a separate controversy, with Arsenal launching an appeal against the red card shown to 16 year old Max Dowman following his reaction to a challenge from a Fleetwood player during the match, in an attempt to have the ban overturned before the club's next fixture against Liverpool.
Arsenal will now have to regroup quickly as attention turns to that Premier League clash, with the manner of the exit likely to be scrutinised regardless of how Arteta's side respond domestically.
