Arsenal put up a masterclass display as they hammered Manchester City 3-0 in the FA Community Shield inside the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on Sunday.
Goals from Ricardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and skipper Martin Odegaard secured the dominant win for the Premier League champions.
It is now four wins in four Community Shield encounters against City for Arsenal.
Going into Sunday’s tie, the Gunners thrashed City 4-0 in their first Community Shield contest in 1934, recorded a 3-0 win in 2014 and edged them out 4-1 on penalty shootout after 90 minutes ended 1-1 in 2023.
New manager Enzo Maresca took charge of his first competitive game for City after replacing Pep Guardiola, who left at the end of last season.
The former Chelsea manager gave starting shirt to record signing Elliot Anderson, while the likes of Erling Haaland, Jeremie Doku, Phil Foden, Ruben Dias, Nico O’Reilly and Antoine Semenyo were in the starting lineup also.
For Mikel Arsenal, he also put up a strong lineup which included summer signings Christos Tzolis and Bruno Guimaraes, David Raya, Odegaard, My,es Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel, Noni Madueke and Ben White.
Arsenal had the perfect start as they took the lead just 25 seconds into the tie after Calafiori ran on to Lewis-Skelly’s defence-splitting pass and slotted past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In the 28th minute Havertz made it 2-0 with a powerful close range header, from a headed assist from Tzolis, which Donnarumma failed to properly hold.
Then just three minutes into the second half, Odegaard extended Arsenal’s lead with a brilliant effort. The Norwegian received a pass from Tzolis, gave the keeper a faint before rolling the ball into the net.
–>
Source: Complete Sports
