Fleetwood manager Matt Lawlor has told his players not to fear Arsenal when the two sides meet in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

The League Two club will host Premier League champions Arsenal at Highbury Stadium, with a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals at stake and Lawlor wants his team to embrace the occasion.

The Cod Army reached the fourth round by beating Championship side Sheffield United, and Lawlor is determined to ensure his side are now “overawed” against the Gunners.

He told a press conference on Monday: “The champions are coming to town and they’re coming to our patch. The players need to be excited by it, not overawed by it. The respect is through the roof, but the fear can’t be through the roof.

“We’ve earned a game like this. We’ve had to go through round upon round of tough games, and none of them were easy. To get to where we are, we deserve that. To be able to represent the town on the national stage is amazing.”

Fleetwood’s league form has dipped since the cup meeting with Mikel Arteta’s side was confirmed. They went unbeaten through their first six league games of the season, but since beating the Blades in September, they have lost five of their last seven matches.

“It has been a frustration of mine, and I’ve shared that with the group,” Lawlor added.

“With a young group you get peaks and troughs. We need to level out a little bit more than we have done in recent weeks. It’s not from a lack of trying or effort.”

Fleetwood face a daunting task when they take on Arsenal, who have won seven of their opening eight Premier League matches to sit level on points with Manchester City at the top of the table.

Arteta’s team have also made a strong start in Europe, taking seven points from three games after holding Bayern Munich to a 2-2 draw in Germany last week.

Arsenal reached the final of the Carabao Cup last season before losing to Manchester City at Wembley, and will hope to go one step further this time around.