Arsenal at Highbury is on the agenda 20 years after the Gunners left their iconic home, as the Gunners travel to Fleetwood Town's stadium namesake for the fourth round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening.

Mikel Arteta's side bested Ipswich Town 4-2 to set up a date with their League Two foes, who have already eliminated all of Chesterfield, Shrewsbury Town and Sheffield United without conceding in the 2026-27 competition.

Match preview

Arsenal's extraordinary and unrivalled 14 FA Cup triumphs has meant sweet little in the EFL Cup in recent times; for all of the Gunners' successes in the former knockout tournament, they remain without a League Cup honour since Paul Merson and Steve Morrow took down Sheffield Wednesday in 1993.

Four runners-up finishes have befallen Arsenal since then, courtesy of Manchester City (twice), Chelsea and Birmingham City, but the 2025-26 silver medallists made relatively light work of fellow Premier League foes Ipswich first up.

By the hour mark, Arsenal had already strolled into a 4-0 lead thanks partly to a double from Max Dowman - subsequently named the best player of the third round - before Ipswich made the scoreline more respectable in the final 30.

The fourth round has not always been kind to the Gunners in recent times, though, as they have fallen at this stage on three occasions since the 2015-16 season, to Sheffield Wednesday in that year, Liverpool in 2019-20 and West Ham United in 2023-24.

However, Arteta's men have returned from the international break a different beast, going unbeaten in each of their five October games so far and collecting their fourth win in that sequence on Saturday, easing past Everton 2-0 in the Premier League.

Ezri Konsa's early opener also snapped Arsenal's 13-game sequence without a set-piece goal and took the champions level on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, thus allowing fans to keep on dreaming the quadruple dream.

Arsenal's most recent EFL Cup trophy lift came four years before Fleetwood's third reformation as Fleetwood Wanderers, and 19 years before Tuesday's hosts' first foray in the competition in the 2012-13 campaign.

Limited to first, second and third-round finishes up to the end of the 2025-26 season, Fleetwood have already progressed further in the competition than ever before this time around, thanks to an impeccable defensive record.

Matt Lawlor's men edged out Chesterfield 1-0 first up, before slaughtering Shrewsbury 4-0 and shocking Sheffield United 1-0 in the second and third rounds respectively; a Rhys Norrington-Davies own goal was enough to take down the Blades.

Fleetwood's success over Sheffield United also extended their unbeaten start to the season to nine games, but the Cods have lost their way and then some since then, suffering defeat in six of their last matches in all competitions.

Lawlor oversaw a 2-1 reverse to Exeter City on Saturday, which left Fleetwood 18th in the League Two table, but the Fishermen have lost just one of their 10 home games in all tournaments this term ahead of Tuesday's titanic tussle.

Fleetwood Town EFL Cup form:

Fleetwood Town form (all competitions):

Arsenal EFL Cup form:

Arsenal form (all competitions):

Team News

Arsenal's Saturday afternoon against Everton was not perfect by any stretch, as Riccardo Calafiori headed straight down the tunnel at full time with an unspecified injury, albeit one that Arteta believes is minor.

Nevertheless, Calafiori will surely miss the trip to Highbury alongside Bukayo Saka (quad) and William Saliba (back), while Christos Tzolis (hamstring) is close to a return but could be spared for the trip to Liverpool at the weekend.

Limited to just 19 Premier League minutes so far this season, third-round hero Dowman is expected to be among multiple changes on the visitors' end, potentially alongside Marli Salmon and Andre Harriman-Annous.

As for Fleetwood, midfielder Lewis McCann serves a one-game ban after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament against Sheffield United, leaving the 25-year-old "absolutely gutted" to miss a potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

McCann joins long-term injury absentee Kane Thompson-Sommers on the sidelines, while former Wrexham midfielder Andy Cannon has been missing since late August, but defensive stalwart Rhys Bennett is back from suspension.

After captaining Fleetwood to victory over his former club in round three, Ched Evans should lead the Fishermen out against Arsenal; the 37-year-old has three goals from three EFL Cup appearances already in 2026-27.

Fleetwood Town possible starting lineup:

Lynch; Rooney, Bennett, Potter; Cirino, McLean, Neal, Helm, Andrew; Coughlan, Evans

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Kepa; Timber, Salmon, Mosquera, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Lewis-Skelly; Dowman, Merino, Eze; Harriman-Annous

We say: Fleetwood Town 0-4 Arsenal

Highbury has been largely a safe haven for Fleetwood Town this season, and the League Two outfit will not be facing a full-strength Arsenal team by any stretch.

However, Arteta's combination of second-string players and youthful prospects should still propel the Premier League champions into the quarter-finals with ease.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.