Photo: Santi Cazorla,Mikel Arteta and Alexis Sanchez show of the Community Shield after defeating Manchester City 3-0 at Wembley Stadium.
The first piece of silverware for 2014/2015 Barclays Premier League season was on offer today in the Community Shield contested between the English Champions and FA Cup winners. Defending Premier League Champions Manchester City suffered a big blow just a week before the start of the Premiership going down 3-0 to the Gunners of Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger’s men were impressive at Wembley hitting the back of the net courtesy of Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and striker Olivier Giroud.
The winners of the Community Shield at the new Wembley generally go on to lift the Premier League title except on just two occasions and Wenger will hope his team can improve and maintain their form throughtout the upcoming season.
Arsenal started off brightly, possessing the ball and showing an attacking intent every time they were in possession. New boy Alexis Sanchez was causing all kinds of problems with his pace and trickery as well as linking up well with the likes of Jack Wilshere and Ramsey.
The first real attempt on goal came from Yaya Sanogo after Mathieu Debuchy overlapped down the right and whipped a cross to the far post. The young French striker failed to get good contact on the ball but it was an excellent move by the Gunners. Alexis was finding space at will and tried to set up his teammates but the final bit of quality in the attacking third was lacking. The Gunners also looked solid defensively with Calum Chambers snuffing out the danger on a few occasions under pressure from the likes of Yaya Toure, Stefan Jovetic and former Gunner Samir Nasri.
The deadlock was broken on 21 minutes when Cazorla fired pass Willy Caballero in goal for City. Alexis was again at the heart of the attack, cutting in from the right and got pass a couple of defenders. The ball broke kindly for the Spaniard who made room for himself brilliantly before firing beyond the Argentine with a left-footed effort. Man City could not get into their strides and was finding it difficult to handle the intensity of Arsenal’s play.
Nasri could have drawn level on 38 minutes but he couldn’t divert a loose ball from an Alexandr Kolarov cross towards goal. That came back to haunt Nasri as Ramsey got Arsenal’s second just 4 minutes later. It was Sanogo again using his pace to get in behind and strength to hold the ball up before he played in the Welshman. The 23 year old evades one challenge before slotting the ball expertly into the far corner pass a helpless Caballero.
City looked brighter in the second half and tested Wojciech Szczesny on 52 minutes. Toure released Jesus Navas down the right and crossed for Jovetic whose header was beaten away by the Polish goalkeeper. David Silva then took over the game dictating play for the Citizens and almost carved out a chance for Edin Dzeko on 58 minutes. The 28 year old Spanish playmaker played in a beautiful cross for the Bosnian but Chambers rose well to head away from danger.
However in the 61st minute, Giroud brought the house down with a sumptuous strike from about 25 yards out. The French man received a pass from Ramsey before working the ball onto his preferred left foot and unleashed a belter that dipped just under the crossbar to make it 3-0 to Arsenal and sealed an excellent win over the Champions.
Wenger and the Arsenal fans would have been pleased with what they saw from their team. They moved the ball well with good tempo and were a threat in attack all day. City on the other hand will want to see Vincent Kompany back in the heart of defense and will hope to conclude the signing of Eliaquim Mangala from Porto. They were good in patches but looked off the pace for most of the day so there is a lot of work to do if they hope to successfully defend the title.
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