League Two strugglers Fleetwood Town achieved one of the biggest upsets in EFL Cup history as they eliminated reigning Premier League champions Arsenal at the Round of 16 stage.
The tie took place at Highbury Stadium, leading to questions around the name of the stadium where the Cods claimed their famous 5-3 penalty shootout triumph over the Gunners.
The Cods became the first side from League Two to eliminate the reigning Premier League champions from a domestic cup competition since Wrexham defeated Arsenal in the FA Cup in 1992.
Sharing a famous name: The history of Fleetwood's Highbury Stadium
For many football fans tuning into the EFL Cup fourth-round tie, seeing "Arsenal play at Highbury" sparked an immediate wave of nostalgia.
While sharing a famous moniker with Arsenal's historic former London home, Fleetwood Town's compact 5,327-capacity Highbury Stadium in Lancashire served as the authentic backdrop for a monumental upset.
Established long before the Premier League era, Fleetwood's Highbury Stadium has been the club's spiritual home since 1939, offering a tight, atmospheric, and intimidating environment for visiting elite teams unaccustomed to such close proximity between the stands and the pitch.
The stadium sits on the south-western edge of Memorial Park in Fleetwood, Lancashire, just behind Highbury Avenue.
It is so called because of the road that runs directly alongside the ground, and has been Fleetwood's home for nearly a century. Blackpool FC's reserve team also pointed to the stadium as its home until 2014.
Home advantage and the anatomy of a Cup upset
Playing on their own turf played a monumental psychological role in Fleetwood's historic giant-killing.
The fourth-tier side packed the stands with a passionate capacity crowd of just over 5,300 supporters and absorbed wave after wave of pressure after Aaron Loupalo-Bi gave them a shock 21st-minute lead.
They were in full voice all evening, even after Viktor Gyökeres equalized early in the second half for Arsenal with a scrappy goal.
Fleetwood's defensive resilience at Highbury frustrated the visitors through the full 90 minutes, with goalkeeper Jay Lynch pulling off a series of brilliant saves in the closing stages, causing the fans to crank up the volume in the cauldron-like atmosphere at Highbury.
At the end of regulation time, the coin toss determined that the shootout would take place in front of the home supporters at the Percy Ronson Stand.
The home fans did their utmost to put off the Arsenal takers, and after failing with Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Gyökeres, it finally paid off as Lynch dived to his left to keep out Bruno Guimaraes' effort.
Once 19-year-old Conor Haughey scored the winning penalty to send Fleetwood into the quarter-finals, viewers were treated to scenes of ecstasy on the pitch and in the stands.
