Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney insists Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres should be “offended” that he started in the Gunners’ Carabao Cup exit to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday night.

The Gunners went a goal down to the League Two side on 21 minutes when Aaron Loupalo-Bi opened the scoring with a neat finish.

Gyokeres, who has made just one Premier League start this season, was in the starting XI against Fleetwood – who eventually won on penalties in one of the biggest cup shocks of all time – and scored the equaliser on 50 minutes when he bundled the ball into the net.

The Sweden international has struggled to get into the Arsenal team this season with Mikel Arteta largely preferring Kai Havertz as his centre-forward.

And Deeney insists he would be “offended” to start against Fleetwood after being out of Arteta’s line-up for most of the season.

Analysing Gyokeres’ problems since arriving at Arsenal, Deeney said on CBS Sports: “Personally, I would be kind of offended if the manager was saying I was playing in this game. That would be how I look at it.

“The problem he’s had, in all seriousness, is a difficult summer; every time they were linked with Julian Alvarez or any other player, he was part of the deal to go.

“They were trying to get him out the door, remember he didn’t play until the window closed. So there was that moment for him where he was feeling unloved, unwanted; he’s gone to Sweden, scored six in six, so he’s got the confidence when he’s away.

“But with Arsenal, and I say it week in, week out, people think I don’t like him. I don’t really care about the fella, to be honest with you, but the other part to it is that the players don’t trust him.”

Reacting to Fleetwood’s victory against the defending Premier League champions, CBS Sports pundit Nigel Reo-Coker said: “For me, this is the biggest upset in English football history.”

Arteta: ‘It’s a very sad day’ for Arsenal

Reacting to the result against Fleetwood, Arsenal boss Arteta described it as a “very sad day” for the Premier League club as they exited the competition.

Arteta told reporters: “First of all, congratulations to Fleetwood for going through in the next round, in the manner they’ve done it, the atmosphere they have created, and, yeah, a really sad day for us.

“I cannot fault at all the attitude of the players. I haven’t seen anyone not doing what is required at this level.

“But, obviously, we insisted so much, we have so much of the ball, so many chances, so many shots, and if you want the margins to be bigger than going to the penalties, obviously, you need to capitalise on that. And we didn’t. And football is about that.

“We gave them almost nothing in the whole game and we created so many chances, and didn’t capitalise on that. And then the margins become so small, that’s it.

“This is football, that’s the beauty as well of this competition, and, especially in this country, it’s a very sad day.”