Furious Arsenal Supporter Blames Highbury Stadium Pitch Length After C

Furious Arsenal Supporter Blames Highbury Stadium Pitch Length After Cup Defeat

An upset Arsenal supporter argued that Highbury Stadium's short pitch caused their surprising Carabao Cup loss to Fleetwood Town.

NationPulse Desk

Oct 28, 2026 · 4:18 PM 3 min read

Key takeaways

Arsenal lost on penalties to Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup fourth round after a 1-1 draw.

An Arsenal fan on AFTV blamed the loss on the pitch being 102 metres long instead of the Premier League standard 105 metres.

Max Dowman was sent off late in the match for kicking out at Harrison Neal.

Fleetwood Town won the penalty shootout 5-3 to knock out the Premier League champions.

Paul Merson criticized Mikel Arteta for appearing to admonish 16-year-old Max Dowman as he left the pitch.

A supporter of the North London club argued that the playing surface at Fleetwood Town was too short following their surprising elimination.

The Premier League champions exited the Carabao Cup in the fourth round after losing on penalties to the Cod Army, marking one of the biggest upsets in the tournament.

Making eight changes for their visit to Highbury Stadium, the top-flight side struggled against their fourth-tier opponents.

Aaron Loupalo-Bi opened the scoring for the hosts before Viktor Gyokeres equalized in the second half.

Max Dowman received a late red card for kicking out at Harrison Neal, and the Fishermen subsequently triumphed 5-3 in the penalty shootout.

One frustrated supporter formulated an excuse by criticizing the dimensions of the field.

In an interview with AFTV, fan Julian stated: "It's 102metres long, the Premier League is 105m long: it's just under three per cent difference."

He added: "When you have a margin of that kind of level, it is only small but it can make a difference."

Julian continued: "And what that allowed Fleetwood to do was to make it easier for them to condense the play on a smaller pitch, which they're used to playing on."

He concluded: "We're not talking about the main reason why they lost, we're talking about the small margins and the smaller margins tonight was three metres less in length in the pitch. It's one of the smaller reasons."

Other supporters dismissed the remarks, with one calling it "the worst excuse I've ever heard" and another stating: "The game is utterly, utterly gone."

A third person remarked: "They're 18th in League 2 and he's blaming a smaller pitch."

Meanwhile, regular AFTV contributor Tai condemned Fleetwood's rough challenges during the match.

Defending Dowman for his reaction toward Neal, Tai noted: "I expect players to not endanger other players' careers."

He continued: "Max is 16. He does not want to get his leg broken like happened to Aaron and Eduardo. Now, you can say Max is wrong but Max is trying to defend himself."

Tai added: "The referee did not do his job, and it is scandalous. It's disgraceful. And I'm disgusted that we've come here to face this."

He finished by saying: "Fleetwood Town should be ashamed of themselves because that's a tackle that endangers our players careers."

Dowman's dismissal compounded a difficult night for the visitors, and manager Mikel Arteta appeared displeased with the teenager.

The Spanish coach seemed to address Dowman as he walked off the field, drawing criticism from club legend Paul Merson.

Merson commented: "If that's [Viktor] Gyokeres, who's an experienced international, he [Arteta] isn't doing that - but he does that to a 16-year-old kid?"

He added: "He's not the last person to get sent off for Arsenal, nor the first. If it was me, I'd have put my arm around him. It's still 1-1, they're still in the game."

Questions and answers

Why did an Arsenal fan blame the pitch for the defeat?

The fan claimed the pitch was 102 metres long instead of the Premier League standard 105 metres, which allowed Fleetwood Town to condense the play more easily.