After Max Dowman was handed a straight red card for petulantly kicking out at a Fleetwood Town player, Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal side have a huge problem

Max Dowman's red card in Arsenal's shock League Cup exit to Fleetwood Town has left Mikel Arteta with a huge problem. The Gunners were beaten on penalties by the League Two side in one of the biggest shocks in the competition's history.

They fell behind to Aaron Loupalo-Bi's first-half goal before Viktor Gyokeres bundled in an equaliser just after half-time. In the final minutes of the match, Dowman was sent off for violent conduct for kicking out at Fleetwood ace Harrison Neal after he hit the teenager with a fierce tackle.

The Gunners went on to lose in a dreaded penalty shootout, with £75m summer signing Bruno Guimaraes seeing his spot-kick saved by Fleetwood shot-stopper Jay Lynch. While the loss to the Cod Army is bad enough, Dowman's dismissal may also have a significant impact on Arteta's plans for Liverpool this weekend.

Arteta is suffering from an injury crisis in his frontline. He will only have two wide forwards available to him for this weekend's away clash against Liverpool.

Those are Eberechi Eze, who is arguably better as an attacking midfielder behind the striker, and Noni Madueke. Arteta is also without the injured Bukayo Saka, who was forced off in the 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League, and Christos Tzolis, who has been out since picking up a hamstring injury while on international duty with Greece.

Make sure you never miss the latest Arsenal news and opinion by making Football London one of your Google preferred sources

Dowman could have been an option from the bench at least but the teenager's dismissal means he will not be available to Arteta this weekend as he serves the first of his three-match ban. An element of creativity will be needed to find a solution to their struggles, which many foresaw after failing to sign another forward in the summer transfer window.

One option is deploying Kai Havertz on the wing, where he sometimes played during his three seasons at Chelsea. Arteta deployed youngster Ceadach O'Neill on the right-hand side against Fleetwood Town before taking him off after 65 minutes, but that only because of the lower-league opposition.

Another option could be to shift club captain Martin Odegaard onto the right wing, where he can cut onto his favoured left foot, but that is also far from ideal. Arsenal were unable to sign any more wingers in the summer after parting with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.

They pushed hard for a statement signing, chasing Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Junior and Julian Alvarez, but could not get any of those over the line. Now Arteta is short on options heading into a pivotal clash with an improving Liverpool side.

When Dowman walked off the pitch after his dismissal, Arteta looked furious as he spoke to the academy graduate. When asked what he said to the youngster, Arteta bluntly replied: "It was something that we discussed before the game."

After being pushed on whether Dowman learned any serious lessons from the ordeal, Arteta replied: "We knew when we prepared the context of the match, we were very clear on the things to expect, the things that emotionally we have to dominate."