Title-holders Arsenal delivered a statement performance in the Community Shield, thumping Man City 3-0 in Cardiff to send out a warning to all of their Premier League rivals.
The Gunners shocked City and their new boss Enzo Maresca with just 23 seconds on the clock when Myles Lewis-Skelly’s sublime pass teed up Riccardo Calafiori to coolly convert the opener. The post-Pep Guardiola era couldn’t have got off to a worse start for City.
Arsenal’s £34m summer signing Christos Tzolis then made the next two, heading across goal for Kai Havertz to force the second through Gianluigi Donnarumma before finding captain Martin Odegaard to tuck in a third just three minutes after half-time at the Principality Stadium.
Donnarumma was sat down by Odegaard for that goal and it summed up his poor performance behind a City defence which looked all over the place.
They had needed Josko Gvardiol to clear Odegaard’s effort off the line just before half-time when Donnarumma spilt the ball and the returning Bukayo Saka passed up two good chances to add more goals.
In contrast, Arsenal’s backline, which had been questioned in pre-season after shipping eight goals in four matches, was robust.
Their determination to shut City out was summed up when David Raya saved from Erling Haaland, Lewis-Skelly reached the rebound and then Ben White threw himself in front of a Jeremy Doku shot.
Haaland and £116m Elliot Anderson were withdrawn after underwhelming and the absence of Barcelona target Rodri was impossible to ignore. Yet, as Maresca searches for the right formula after City’s decade of success under Guardiola, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are primed to capitalise on their position of strength.
The last team to win the Community Shield and then win the Premier League title was Man City in 2018/19 when they landed a domestic treble. Subsequent success from winning this curtain-raiser is no guarantee but Sunday’s victory looks like a launchpad for Arsenal as they go in search of back-to-back top-flight crowns for the first time in 91 years.
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