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Arsenal will lodge an appeal against Max Dowman’s red card following Tuesday night’s unexpected Carabao Cup elimination against League Two side Fleetwood.
The 16-year-old was sent off for kicking out at Harrison Neal after a physical tackle in the 85th minute of the match, which Arsenal lost on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
Boss Mikel Arteta spoke briefly to the teenager as he exited the pitch at Highbury, and Arsenal intend to submit an appeal to the Football Association, with paperwork needing to be lodged before Thursday’s 1pm deadline.
The club hope a resolution regarding Dowman’s dismissal will be reached before the Premier League champions return to action with a trip to Liverpool on Sunday.
Captain Martin Odegaard urged the Gunners not to dwell on the shock defeat.
After Bruno Guimaraes was denied from 12 yards, Fleetwood’s 19-year-old defender Conor Haughey stepped up to send the hosts into the quarter-finals, completing one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Arsenal fell behind to Aaron Loupalo-Bi’s 21st-minute strike during a disjointed first-half performance after Arteta made nine changes to his side.
Odegaard was introduced at half-time and Viktor Gyokeres quickly restored parity, but Dowman was dismissed before Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch produced shootout heroics to seal victory.
“It’s very frustrating to go out,” Odegaard said. “Obviously, the way we’ve played was not on the level. We need to do much, much better than we did.
“Frustrating, but congratulations to Fleetwood and we look forward to the next game already and bounce back.
“They did well so we have to give them credit, but I think (it) was about us not being on our level, we need to do better. I thought we improved during the game, but again, we need to step up even more – so that’s a shame.”
Arsenal return to the north west this weekend for a major test against Liverpool at Anfield, needing to clear this disappointment from their system before then as they look to maintain pressure at the top of the Premier League table, having drawn level on points with Manchester City over the weekend.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Odegaard added. “We need to move on – we have a big game at the weekend, so bouncing back at the weekend is all we can do now.”
Arteta twice won this competition while working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and guided Arsenal to last season’s final, where they were on the wrong end of another victory for City.
This time, the Arsenal boss had to concede defeat and congratulated Fleetwood on their remarkable success in the competition.
“That is why football is entertainment, especially in this competition and in this country, things like that” the Spaniard said.
“They believe in it and the people have it because of the history. We didn’t want to go through this and we are extremely sad but we need to congratulate the opponent.”