Manchester City and Liverpool avoided the fate that befell Arsenal by winning penalty shootouts on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the English League Cup.
City stayed on course to retain the title by twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Brighton at home, then triumph 4-3 in the shootout.
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Liverpool players watch penalty shotout during the fourth-round English Football League Cup soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Bournemouth's Amine Adli, second from right, scores their side's first goal of the game during an English League Cup soccer match between Bournemouth and Aston Villa, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Bournemouth, England. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)
Manchester City players celebrate at the end of the English League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City's Jeremy Doku scores from a penalty kick during penalty shootout during the English League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City players celebrate at the end of the English League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Backup goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli saved Brighton's last two spot kicks — from Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk — to rescue City, which had fallen behind in the shootout when Mateo Kovacic had the team's fourth penalty saved.
In a match that finished a half-hour later, Liverpool beat Chelsea 6-5 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw that saw both goals also come from the penalty spot at Anfield.
Wesley Fofana missed what proved to be the final kick of the shootout, smashing it well over the crossbar and into The Kop at Anfield as Liverpool celebrated another win on penalties over Chelsea — like in the FA Cup and League Cup finals in 2022.
Arsenal wasn't so lucky in a shootout Tuesday, losing in stunning fashion to fourth-tier minnow Fleetwood Town in one of the biggest shocks in the competition's 66-year history.
In other all-Premier League last-16 matchups on Wednesday, Bournemouth beat Aston Villa 3-0 for a fifth straight win in all competitions, Crystal Palace won 1-0 at Fulham, and Sunderland overcame Brentford 3-2.
Fleetwood Town vs. Everton or Newcastle
Manchester City vs. Bradford City
Crystal Palace vs. Sunderland
Liverpool vs. Bournemouth
Fleetwood's reward for beating the English champions was another home match in the last eight, against the winner of Thursday's final last-16 match between Everton and Newcastle.
Third-tier Bradford City — the beaten finalist in 2013 — is the other lower-league team still in the competition and next is away to Man City, the winner of seven of the last 13 League Cup titles.
Three of those titles are under scrutiny as they came in a nine-year period — 2009-18 — when the club was found by an investigatory panel to have committed large-scale financial rule-breaking.
Chelsea isn't in a European competition this season, placing extra emphasis on its runs in the domestic cups.
Its League Cup hopes are now over as Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso's return to Anfield — he played for Liverpool from 2004-09 — turned sour.
That despite his team taking the lead in the 40th minute through Morgan Rogers, who converted a penalty after Ryan Gravenberch fouled Moises Caicedo. Three minutes later, Cody Gakpo slotted home his own penalty after a handball from Fofana at a corner.
The shootout was an 18-shot epic. Liverpool's Konstantinos Tsimikas and Chelsea's Emmanuel Emegha — on his debut — both missed when having chances to clinch a win. With the 18th and final kick, Fofana skied the ball over.
Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Liverpool players watch penalty shotout during the fourth-round English Football League Cup soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Bournemouth's Amine Adli, second from right, scores their side's first goal of the game during an English League Cup soccer match between Bournemouth and Aston Villa, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Bournemouth, England. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)
Manchester City players celebrate at the end of the English League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City's Jeremy Doku scores from a penalty kick during penalty shootout during the English League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City players celebrate at the end of the English League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Fleetwood Town posed the question: “The biggest cup shock of all time?”
That's what the fourth-tier team asked on social media after knocking Premier League champion Arsenal out of the English League Cup on Tuesday in a penalty shootout.
There was little question about it as Fleetwood fans woke up Wednesday still pinching themselves following one of the biggest upsets in the cup’s 66-year history.
More than 80 places separate the two teams in the English soccer pyramid. Arsenal’s stellar squad is worth an approximate $1.6 billion, while Fleetwood’s is valued at a relatively paltry $3 million. Fleetwood’s stadium has four parking spaces, its former owner is in prison for fraud, and its home town is best known as the place where Fisherman’s Friend cough drops are manufactured rather than soccer dominance.
Mikel Arteta has steered Arsenal to five trophies, including last season's Premier League title — as well as the Champions League final.
Fleetwood boss Matt Lawlor is less than a year into his first senior managerial position, having been given the job on an interim basis in January before his appointment was made permanent in March.
“I was trying to not cry and I didn’t,” said the 38-year-old Lawlor, who hails from nearby Poulton-le-Fylde. “I’ve managed to hold it. My family, my little boy here, we’re all local.
“I was turning around and people were screaming at me in the crowd and people that I knew and grew up with. Obviously that’s really special and really emotional — to do something that special early in my career as well.”
Here’s some more things to know about the latest giant-killers in English soccer:
Fleetwood is a coastal town in the northwest of England, with a population of around 26,000.
It is more famous for being the place where the lozenge Fisherman’s Friend is manufactured than its soccer team.
The team is nicknamed the Fishermen, while its supporters are called the Cod Army, because of the town’s fishing industry history.
Almost literally. Fleetwood play at Highbury Stadium, which was the scene of Tuesday’s cup upset.
That is the same name as Arsenal’s storied former stadium from 1913-2006 but the link is pure coincidence and the ground is a world away from what the Premier League team is used to.
Fleetwood’s intimate stadium takes its name from a nearby road and has a capacity of just 5,300. It also has only four parking spaces, which meant Arsenal representatives had to find alternatives on the street, according to British newspaper The Guardian.
The match against Arsenal was Fleetwood’s first sell-out in more than a decade.
Fleetwood is most famous for being the team where former England and Leicester striker Jamie Vardy made his name.
Vardy was there for just one season and helped Fleetwood gain promotion out of the fifth tier, and into the English Football League, before getting a move to Leicester in 2012.
The sale of Jamie Vardy to the then Championship side for 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) was for a long time the highest fee ever paid for a player in Non-League, before it was broken two months ago.
Andy Pilley was the chairman and owner of Fleetwood until he stepped down in 2023, shortly before being handed a 13-year prison sentence for fraud. He lost an appeal in February this year.
Pilley invested more than 10 million pounds ($13 million) into the club, which saw the complete renovation of Highbury Stadium during his tenure.
Pilley was convicted in May 2023 for his part in a multi-million pound fraud which duped firms into expensive energy contracts.
His son, Jamie Pilley, took over Fleetwood in May 2024.
Andy Pilley's stewardship sparked a remarkable rise: six promotions in 10 seasons, including entry into the Football League for the first time in 2012 and culminating in a place in the third-tier League One in 2014.
Fleetwood's highest-ever finish in the soccer pyramid was fourth place in League One during the 2016–17 season. The team was relegated back to the fourth tier in 2024.
After Tuesday's nights heroics — Arsenal rested some first-team stars but still picked a strong lineup — Fleetwood will have to immediately turn its attention to Saturday's visit of Bristol Rovers.
Fleetwood is 18th in the 24-team League Two, hovering just above the drop zone after winning just one of its past eight league matches.
“Football’s getting a little bit more, I don’t know, clinical and removed,” Lawlor said. “And that to me, there was that feeling that we all get as football fans. That was what you kind of live for, isn’t it?
“I want us to carry the momentum forward. I want that feeling that we’ve created here to be something that we can recreate on a regular basis.”
Fleetwood also has the League Cup quarterfinals to look forward to. On Wednesday, the team was drawn against another Premier League opponent — the winner of Thursday's match between Everton and Newcastle.
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Fleetwood's goalkeeper Jay Lynch celebrates during penalty shootout during the English League Cup soccer match between Fleetwood Town and Arsenal in Fleetwood, England, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Fleetwood's coach Matt Lawlor, left, and Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta, center, talk with referee during the English League Cup soccer match between Fleetwood Town and Arsenal in Fleetwood, England, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Fleetwood's coach Matt Lawlor celebrates with his players after winning a penalty shootout during the English League Cup soccer match between Fleetwood Town and Arsenal in Fleetwood, England, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Fleetwood's coach Matt Lawlor celebrates after winning a penalty shootout during the English League Cup soccer match between Fleetwood Town and Arsenal in Fleetwood, England, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Fleetwood's players celebrate after winning a penalty shootout during the English League Cup soccer match between Fleetwood Town and Arsenal in Fleetwood, England, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
