A drone, then a shock
Play stopped after one minute and 40 seconds at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday when referee Michael Salisbury spotted a drone above the pitch, with Arsenal waiting to take a free kick. Salisbury spoke to both benches and the stadium safety officer, and the fourth-round tie restarted in the 10th minute, more than eight minutes later. Police said they located the operator. Fleetwood confirmed the drone was not authorised by the club or the broadcasters.
Fleetwood lead, Arsenal level
Fleetwood, sitting 18th in League Two, went ahead on 21 minutes through Fulham loanee Aaron Loupalo-Bi, against an Arsenal side that made sweeping changes and struggled to find rhythm. Martin Odegaard came on and the visitors improved after the break, equalising in the 50th minute when Viktor Gyokeres turned in his first goal of the season.
The tie finished level and was decided from the spot. Jay Lynch saved Bruno Guimaraes' penalty, and teenage defender Conor Haughey struck the kick that sealed it, sending Fleetwood through 5-3 and setting off a pitch invasion.
The biggest night in the club's league history
Arsenal arrived as Premier League champions and were knocked out by a club that has been in the Football League for 15 years. It was the furthest Fleetwood had ever gone in the competition and the biggest match in that period, and the result ranks among the largest upsets in the Carabao Cup's 66-year history.
Fleetwood's reward is a place in the quarter-final draw, and a fixture that will matter more to the club's finances than anything else this season. For Arsenal, the exit removes one route to a trophy and adds scrutiny to a squad rotation that produced little in the first half.
Police are still investigating the drone flight, which briefly threatened to abandon the match altogether. Under English ground regulations, flying an unmanned aircraft over a stadium during play is a criminal offence, and clubs have pressed for tougher enforcement since similar incidents last season.