League Cup at fourth-tier Fleetwood: Arteta warns Arsenal of upset risk
Arsenal visit League Two side Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup fourth round at 8 p.m. GMT on Tuesday. Manager Mikel Arteta says his side's standards must be "through the roof".
Archive image · Photo: Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Arsenal travel to League Two side Fleetwood Town in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, with kick-off at Highbury Stadium on the Lancashire coast at 8 p.m. GMT. Fleetwood are 18th in League Two, while the Londoners are level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City after a 2-0 win over Everton and have won 11 of 13 games in all competitions this season. According to the PA news agency, it is Arsenal's sixth of nine fixtures in 29 days, and manager Mikel Arteta is expected to rotate.
Arteta recalled previous cup upsets suffered by his club, including last season's 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Championship side Southampton. Everyone knows the risk, the Spaniard said, adding that "our basics and habits have to be through the roof to be able to win a game." His message to the players: "Show them the Arsenal shirt and what we represent, and that's it." Asked whether teenager Max Dowman, who scored twice in the 4-2 third-round win over Ipswich, would start, he said: "Let's see."
Arteta also discussed striker Viktor Gyokeres, who has yet to score this season and made his first league start at the weekend, saying the Swede had been unlucky in two or three moments. Arsenal visit Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday. Liverpool host Chelsea in the League Cup on Wednesday, when Manchester City face Brighton.