A drone stopped play during Fleetwood Town vs Arsenal in the Carabao Cup at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday night.
The fourth-round tie was interrupted early in the evening, with football reporter Ryan Taylor posting at 8.05pm GMT on 27 October that the match had been paused because of a drone above the ground.
Drone interrupts Fleetwood Town vs Arsenal
Taylor shared an image alongside his report from Highbury. His original post is embedded below.
Fleetwood Town vs Arsenal paused due to drone above Highbury Stadium.
— Ryan Taylor (@RyanTaylorSport) October 27, 2026
Watch the drone stoppage
Sky Sports Football shared footage of the interruption:
A drone stops play at the Highbury Stadium.
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 27, 2026
Journalist Layth shared these views from the ground:
Play has been stopped due to a drone here at Fleetwood vs Arsenal
— Layth (@laythy29) October 27, 2026
Have you ever seen anything like this. Play has been stopped to due a drone overhead here at Fleetwood vs Arsenal
— Layth (@laythy29) October 27, 2026
Match ongoing after stoppage
The referee called the players off the pitch around three minutes into the match, before waving them back on roughly two minutes later. Sky Sports reported at half-time that the delay lasted eight minutes.
Television commentators said police outside the ground had located the drone operator, allowing the game to get back underway. The operator’s identity and the reason for the flight have not been independently verified.
Fleetwood take the lead after the restart
Aaron Loupalo-Bi put Fleetwood Town 1–0 ahead in the 21st minute, with Harrison Neal credited with the assist in the match feed. Sky Sports Football shared the official goal clip on X:
FLEETWOOD TAKE THE LEAD! 😱
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 27, 2026
Loupalo-Bi puts League Two side Fleetwood ahead against Arsenal 💥
For the build-up and fixture information, see our Fleetwood Town v Arsenal Carabao Cup preview.
Fleetwood Town v Arsenal: matchday centre
Fan reaction
Even the drone wanted a front-row seat to watch Arsenal 😭🚁
— Dr Zahoor Ahmed (@ZahoorAhmed1450) October 27, 2026
Been a few years since Arsenal were losing at Highbury
— Ali Speight (@ALSP8) October 27, 2026
It’s not the Highbury squirrel though.
— Darren Boyle (@misterscoop) October 27, 2026<[Truncated]What fans are reading
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