Carabao Cup round-up: League Two Fleetwood knock out champions Arsenal, Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties – results and quarter-final draw

The fourth round of the 2026-27 Carabao Cup produced one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s history. Fleetwood Town, 18th in League Two, knocked out Premier League champions Arsenal on penalties on Tuesday 27 October. Three of the eight ties went to penalty shootouts.

Fleetwood 1-1 Arsenal (Fleetwood win 5-3 on penalties)

Arsenal left out Declan Rice, Gabriel and David Raya but still fielded an experienced side. Fleetwood went ahead in the 21st minute when Aaron Loupalo-Bi outmuscled Marli Salmon and scored. Play had already been stopped for around seven minutes earlier in the half because an unidentified drone was hovering over the pitch.

Martin Ødegaard came on at half-time and Arsenal improved. Viktor Gyökeres equalised from close range in the 50th minute, his first goal of the season, and Kai Havertz missed several close-range chances in the second half. Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch denied Ben White and Ødegaard in stoppage time, and teenager Max Dowman was sent off in the 90th minute for allegedly kicking out at Harrison Neal; Arsenal are appealing.

In the shootout, Lynch saved Bruno Guimarães’s penalty and Conor Haughey scored the winning kick. According to ESPN, it is the first time reigning Premier League champions have been knocked out of the League Cup by a fourth-tier club, and Fleetwood’s first win over a top-flight side. Fleetwood manager Matt Lawlor admitted his players had not practised penalties. “A really sad day for us,” said Mikel Arteta, who added that his team did not take their chances.

Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea (Liverpool win 6-5 on penalties)

Both goals came from the spot in the space of three minutes before half-time. Morgan Rogers scored in the 40th minute after Ryan Gravenberch fouled Moisés Caicedo, and Cody Gakpo equalised after Wesley Fofana handled from a corner. The shootout went to sudden death, and it ended when Fofana sent Chelsea’s eighth penalty over the bar. Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders also saved from Gravenberch. Emmanuel Emegha made his Chelsea debut as a substitute.

The rest of the round

Brighton 3-4 Manchester City on penalties after a draw. Aston Villa 0-3 Bournemouth. Fulham 0-1 Crystal Palace. Brentford 2-3 Sunderland. Newcastle 1-3 Everton. Peterborough 0-2 Bradford City. Bournemouth’s win at Villa Park came days after they beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford, and only days after Villa had beaten Manchester City.

Carabao Cup quarter-final draw

Fleetwood Town vs Everton. Manchester City vs Bradford City. Crystal Palace vs Sunderland. Liverpool vs Bournemouth. The quarter-finals will be played in the week of 14 December. Two lower-league clubs, Fleetwood and Bradford, are still in the competition, and both have a home or away tie against Premier League opposition.

What the round tells us

For Arsenal, the defeat comes in a week that also includes the trip to Anfield and a Champions League game in Prague, and it adds to the questions around squad depth with Bukayo Saka out for several weeks. For Liverpool, the shootout win over Chelsea extended their unbeaten run before the visit of Arsenal on Sunday. And for Chelsea, it was a second setback in five days after their home league defeat to Tottenham. Follow every cup and league result on SportPulses.