Arsenal set up a Carabao Cup quarter-final showdown with Tottenham, but only after being spooked by a spirited Blackpool and some self‑inflicted scares. Unai Emery’s men seemed on course for a straightforward win when Stephan Lichtsteiner and Emile Smith Rowe put them two goals up but, in the end, they only crept past their League One visitors.
Mattéo Guendouzi received a red card in the 56th minute that rules him out of the Premier League match against Liverpool on Saturday – and his dismissal also gave encouragement to Blackpool, for whom Paudie O’Connor struck back in the 66th minute. Arsenal, especially Petr Cech, then endured jittery moments before O’Connor was sent off for taking out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang six minutes from time, after which Blackpool’s fightback faded.
“Where we play every week that’s a yellow card, I couldn’t believe it when he sent him off,” the Blackpool manager, Terry McPhillips, said. “We had them on the back foot until then.”
The abundant empty seats suggested many Arsenal regulars thought this would be an unremarkable contest in which the hosts would dispose of lower league hopefuls with little ado.
Blackpool proved that presumption wrong, while Arsenal showed that Emery still has much work to do despite stretching their unbeaten run to 13 games. That record will be seriously tested on Saturday, when the absence of Guendouzi could be costly. The 19-year-old put in another accomplished display in central midfield until he was shown a second yellow card for a tug on Jordan Thompson. “He plays with the competitive spirit I want and I don’t think he lost control in this action,” Emery said.
Arsenal did lose control after that and nearly lost their lead. Without sparkling, they had established a two‑goal advantage. Guendouzi was instrumental in making the breakthrough in the 33rd minute, rewarding a clever run from deep by Lichtsteiner with a dainty pass over the top. The Swiss right-back stretched out a foot to poke it first-time past the visiting goalkeeper, Mark Howard, who had not had a save to make up to that point.
Arsenal had dominated possession but lacked the ingenuity to infiltrate compact and tenacious visitors. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey failed to have the impact expected from two of the most senior members of a side featuring several inexperienced players, including the 21-year-old debutant centre-back Julio Pleguezuelo and the 18-year-old winger Emile Smith Rowe.
Ramsey had extra motivation to impress given that he needs to attract new employers after being informed by Arsenal that he will not be offered a new contract to replace the one that expires at the end of this season. But he exerted little influence. He could have got his name on the scoresheet just before the break when he met a cross by Ainsley Maitland-Niles but he hooked his shot over the bar from eight yards.
Smith Rowe did better five minutes into the second half, when he sent a bouncing shot into the net from similar range after an excellent run and cross by Carl Jenkinson, deployed at left‑back on his first appearance for Arsenal in nearly two years.
Cech made a less favourable impression. A spectator for most of the match, the goalkeeperhe misjudged an attempt to cut out a corner in the 53rd minute and was fortunate that O’Connor’s header struck the crossbar.
Then, in the 56th minute, Arsenal complicated matters for themselves when Guendouzi got his marching orders. O’Connor soon halved the deficit, heading powerfully into the net after a corner by Thompson.
Belief coursed through the visitors, who threatened to run through Arsenal’s panicky defence. This was no time for another outbreak of Cech’s footwork wobbles but, in the 74th minute the goalkeeper got himself in a muddle and was dispossessed in the area by Jay Spearing. Nathan Delfoueneso stroked the breaking ball into the net – but from an offside position.
When O’Connor was dismissed for taking out the substitute Aubameyang as Arsenal threatened to break, Blackpool’s fightback faded.
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