Arsenal crush Manchester City to win Community Shield

Arsenal began their title defence in style, beating Manchester City 3-0 to win the FA Community Shield at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Sunday.

The victory gave Arsenal their first silverware of the new season and made Enzo Maresca’s competitive debut as Manchester City manager a difficult one. 

Riccardo Calafiori opened the scoring after just 23 seconds, the fastest goal in the Community Shield in 58 years. Kai Havertz doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 28th minute before captain Martin Odegaard completed the rout three minutes after the break. 

Christos Tzolis was one of Arsenal’s standout performers, contributing two assists as Mikel Arteta’s side controlled much of the match. New signing Bruno Guimaraes also impressed on his competitive debut. 

Manchester City struggled to create clear chances, with Erling Haaland largely kept quiet as Arsenal’s defence and goalkeeper David Raya kept a clean sheet. 

The win marked Arsenal’s 18th Community Shield title, leaving them behind only Manchester United, who have won the competition 21 times.

The result also offered an early indication of Arsenal’s ambitions for the new campaign, while City begin the post-Pep Guardiola era with a heavy defeat under Maresca. 

SKS