Fleetwood Town v Arsenal preview: kick-off time, team news and form
Arsenal are back in League Cup action on Tuesday night as they make the trip to Highbury Stadium to face Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup fourth round, with kick-off at 8pm UK time.
It's a tie that sees the Premier League's second-placed side head into League Two territory, with the Gunners looking to continue their progress in the competition after a routine win over Ipswich in the previous round. Arsenal's League Cup form reads just the one game so far this season - a W - while Fleetwood have been in excellent cup form themselves, winning their last three League Cup outings against Chesterfield, Shrewsbury and Sheffield United to earn this midweek meeting with the champions.
In the league, Arsenal sit second in the Premier League and go into this one full of confidence after a run of WWWDW in all competitions, a sequence that's included wins over Leeds, Lille, Nottingham Forest and Everton along with a hard-fought draw away at Bayern Munich. Fleetwood's recent form in all competitions has been much more mixed - WDWLL - with back-to-back league defeats against Cheltenham Town and Exeter City either side of a win over Rotherham United, so the League Two club arrive off the back of a difficult week domestically but with real momentum from their cup run.
The BBC reports that Fleetwood "will respect but not fear" Arsenal in this cup tie, while the Guardian describes a "feisty reception" being lined up for the Gunners, with the piece noting that "the wind goes in all directions" at Highbury and that Fleetwood are keen to make life uncomfortable for their illustrious visitors (The Guardian).
On the Arsenal side, Mikel Arteta has been speaking about the trip in his pre-match press conference, touching on a "Fleetwood warning" as well as comments on Viktor Gyokeres and Cristhian Mosquera, according to Football.London (Football.London). The club's own site also carried his thoughts under the heading "Arteta on Fleetwood, Gyokeres and basics" (Arsenal.com), while a training gallery showed the squad preparing for the match under the banner "Focused on Fleetwood" (Arsenal.com).
Team news suggests wholesale changes are on the cards, with Football.London reporting eight changes and an agreement reached involving young talent Max Dowman in the line-up for the trip (Football.London), while Arteta has also called up six more Hale End academy prospects into training ahead of the game, though two big names were said to miss out (Football.London). The Evening Standard notes that Noni Madueke has become an important attacking option with Bukayo Saka out injured, and suggests Arteta could look to protect him here, while Viktor Gyokeres continues to wait for his first Arsenal goal of the season (Evening Standard). Arsenal's win over Everton at the weekend was also overshadowed by fresh injury concerns, with Football.London reporting on a new fitness worry emerging from that match (Football.London) (Football.London).
You can catch all the action from Highbury when Fleetwood Town host Arsenal in the Carabao Cup fourth round, with kick-off at 8pm UK time on Tuesday 27th October.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
