EFL Cup Round Four Round Up: Shootouts galore as Fleetwood stun Arsenal and Liverpool compound Alonso woes​

The EFL Cup fourth round delivered one of the competition's biggest ever upsets as reigning English champions Arsenal were beaten by Fleetwood Town, a club from a small Lancashire town that sit 84 places below the Gunners in the football pyramid.

Elsewhere, Liverpool beat a struggling Chelsea side in a topsy-turvy penalty shootout in a rerun of the 2022 final and Manchester City triumphed over Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton as Lewis Dunk missed the decisive spot-kick.

Bradford City, Palace, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Everton round out the last eight after victories.

Bradford City 2-0 Peterborough

We start with an all League One affair, the only game without Premier League representation in this round, where Bradford City comfortably beat Robbie Savage’s Peterborough.

Goals by Macauley Gillesphey and Adam Phillips saw the Bantams through to the competition’s quarter-finals for the first time since 2013.

This was Bradford’s fifth consecutive clean sheet since the arrival of new manager Michael Duff five games ago, but their defence will face a tougher test in the quarters against Manchester City at the Etihad.

Fleetwood 1-1 Arsenal (5-3 on pens)

English football history was made on Tuesday as reigning Champions Arsenal, who have lost just once this season, were beaten by Fleetwood Town, who sit 18th in League Two, and have never beaten a top-flight side.

In Opta’s power rankings, Arsenal are seen to be the strongest side in world football, while Fleetwood sit 1,750th, giving a further sense of the scale of the giant-killing.

Arsenal fielded a strong team, despite heavy rotation, but young centre-back Marli Salmon slipped off Aaron Loupalo-Bi before the attacker fired a low shot between the legs of Illan Meslier to give the Cods an unlikely first-half lead.

Victor Gyokeres, who seemed to find his level, bundled home an equaliser, before 16-year-old Max Dowman saw red for kicking out after a meaty challenge on him by Harrison Neal.

Jay Lynch saved Bruno Guimaraes’ penalty before Conor Haughey smashed home the winner, sparking historic celebrations at Highbury Stadium, where they will attempt to repeat the feat against Everton in the next round.

Manchester City 2-2 Brighton (4-3 on pens)

Nine-time winners Manchester City were fortunate to prevail after twice coming from behind against the Seagulls before Rulli shoot-out heroics saw them into the quarter-finals.

Brighton dominated the game, recording 2.03 xG to City’s 0.76 and creating three big chances to City’s zero, but Malick Yalcouye and Georginio Rutter goals were not enough to secure a victory in regulation time.

Mateo Kovacic scored his first City goal in 18 months, and their second came in fortunate fashion as Ryan Cherki’s low-driven free-kick cannoned off Vitor Reis and past Jason Steele in the Brighton net.

Kovacic later missed his penalty, but City goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli saved efforts from Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk to send City through to the next round, when they will host Bradford City.

City and Brighton will meet again at the Etihad on Saturday in the Premier League.

Fulham 0-1 Crystal Palace

After a rough couple of weeks for Pierre Sage, Eddie Nketiah’s first-half finish was enough to see the Eagles through to a quarter-final match-up with Sunderland.

Fulham dominated proceedings, with 74%possession and had the best of the chances, but could not beat the returning Dean Henderson.

Palace have now reached the last eight in the competition in three consecutive seasons for the first time in the club’s history.

Sunderland 3-2 Brentford

Sunderland, who made 11 changes, went 3-0 up thanks to goals from Chemsdine Talbi, Timur Tutierov and Malick Fofana, with all of the goals assisted by 21-year-old Jocelin Ta Bi.

Brentford, who had started well before conceding three in 13 minutes, got two back through Callum Wilson and Igor Thiago, who started together up front, but were unable to take the game to penalties.

This is the first time the Black Cats have reached the quarters in five years, and they will travel to Selhurst Park.

Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea (6-5 on pens)

Both managers fielded strong teams at Anfield, and there was nothing to split the sides after 90 minutes, as first-half penalties from Morgan Rogers and Cody Gakpo cancelled each other out.

Both teams missed chances to win the shootout, with a total of five unsuccessful efforts, before Joe Gomez found the back of the net for the first time in his 11-year Liverpool career to see the Reds through.

Striker Emmanuel Emegha made a funky Chelsea debut which caused a commotion online, taking out his national team captain, Virgil Van-Dijk, off the ball before politely passing his potentially match-winning penalty to Mamardashvili.

10-time winners Liverpool, the most successful team in League Cup history, will host Iraola’s former team Bournemouth in the next round.

Bournemouth 3-0 Aston Villa

Bournemouth won by a scoreline of 3-0 for the fourth time in five matches as goals by Adli, Cook and Rodriguez powered the Cherries to victory against in-form Aston Villa.

Fresh off of historic wins against AC Milan and Manchester United, Bournemouth beat Villa for the first time in over four years to book their place in a quarter-final tie against Liverpool at Anfield.

Everton 3-1 Newcastle

Finally, Thursday night’s fixture saw Everton cruise past Newcastle and book a quarter-final meeting with League Two Fleetwood.

Goals by James Garner, Hayden Hackney and Thierno Barry were enough to see the Toffees through; they will reach the semi-final for the first time since 2016 if they can see off the Cods in December.

Matthias Jaissle’s tough start to life in the Newcastle dug-out continued with another heavy defeat, with Dan Burn’s late consolation goal the only highlight in another lacklustre display.