Arsenal were embarrassed by Fleetwood in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night as they crashed out in the fourth round on penalties.

The League Two side took the lead in the first-half thanks to a well-taken strike by Aaron Loupalo-Bi, and despite Viktor Gyokeres' equaliser in the second half, they held on to take the game to penalties. Summer signing Bruno Guimaraes saw his spot-kick saved, and Fleetwood scored all five of their penalties to claim a historic win.

Arsenal rested several of their regular starters for the game, but the team was still more than strong enough to claim what should have been a relatively comfortable victory. But a number of players massively underperformed, and they were punished as a result.

Speaking after the shock defeat, Arteta claimed that while he was disappointed with the result, that he could not fault any of his players and felt it was just a bad day at the office.

“Congrats to Fleetwood, it’s a sad day for us," he said.

"But I cannot fault, at all, the attitude of the players. I haven’t seen anybody not doing what is required at this level”. “But we insisted so much, we had so much of the ball, so many chances, so many shots. This is football”.

While the Premier League champions did have a number of chances, saying he can't fault the players at all is simply inaccurate. The team were poor, the players didn't do what was expected of them, and they seemed to believe they would be able to come away with a win regardless of their performance because of the opposition.

The Gunners players need to be held responsible for their performances, and one player who is continuously getting away with it is Kai Havertz.

The Germany international started as a number ten behind Gyokeres in the game, but was horrendous throughout. The Standard gave him a 1/10 rating for his showing, describing him as 'abysmal' and his performance as a 'horror show'. But now it's time for Arteta to admit that he has been wrong and to show some action against him by finding an upgrade.

Arsenal Need a Havertz Upgrade Desperately

Arsenal signed Havertz from Chelsea and Arteta had the idea of playing him as a midfielder. But it simply hasn't worked and he has since been used more regularly as a striker, even displacing Gyokeres as the starter this season.

But his performances haven't justified that, and it's no coincidence that the club continue to be linked with new arrivals in his position, as they look to upgrade.

For a player on huge wages who arrived for a big fee, he simply hasn't shown enough to get the protected treatment that he does from the manager, and fans are beginning to grow fed up of it. Arsenal won the title last season in spite of his and Gyokeres' struggles, not because of the duo, and the team would go up a level if they signed an upgrade.

A number of players have been linked, including Julian Alvarez, and the vast majority of them would be big improvements on anything Havertz can offer. The Fleetwood stinker is the latest in a list of poor showings from the German, and enough is enough now.