ARSENAL won the Community Shield after they beat Premier League and FA Cup holders Manchester City 4-1 in a penalty shoot-out at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Both teams sought to start the new campaign with success under their belt and prepared string lineups.
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, was short of firepower with Gabriel Jesus picking up an injury in preseason to rule him out of this clash.
He, therefore, picked former Chelsea man, Kai Havertz to lead the attack ahead of the in-form Trossard.
Pep Guardiola put out an equally strong side, with Julian Alvarez and Haaland both starting in attack.
The early exchanges were passive, save for Thomas Partey picking up a yellow card in the first few minutes.
While Man City appeared to be on the stronger foot, a tug on Havertz’s shirt by Rodri which could have seen the Spaniard bag a yellow, was waved aside by the referee with only a free kick given.
It was Arteta who instead received a yellow card for dissent.
Havertz soon had a chance to put Arsenal ahead but Ortega in goal for City parried away the shot.
Arsenal slowly began growing into the match, with Saka, a constant menace, though Akanji was doing a good job for City in defence.
Saka’s effort that night produced a goal of his cut back to Havertz in the 40th minute but wasn’t saved by Ortega.
Man City responded by attempting a chip from midfield, akin to that which beat Onana in goal for Manchester United Vs RC Lens a day ago. Ramsdale was quick to get back and make a fingertip save over the bar.
The first 45 minutes ended in a goalless stalemate with both teams coming close to an opener on occasions.
The second half started in a similar manner as the first, with passing aplenty but no real penetration.
The first save of the half came when Ramsdale save a John Stone’s header from a corner kick.
Timber’s contributions didn’t go unnoticed as the crowd cheered him off when substituted for Tierney in the 75th minute.
City took the lead through Cole Palmer in the 77th minute after the forward cut inside from the right and curled a superb effort past Aaron Ramsdale and inside the far post.
Arsenal, however, grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser through Leandro Trossard whose shot was deflected past Ortega by Manuel Akanji to send the game to penalties.
Man City could very well have scored the game’s second when City opened up Arsenal and Ramsdale denied Foden from scoring with his foot.
Ramsdale made a second stop in less than a minute to keep the score the same.
Outcome Gabriel and Kai Havertz and in came Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith-Rowe with just over 2 minutes of regular time left.
Ramsdale soon gave the ball away to De Bryune in erratic fashion and hadThomas Partey to thank for clearing the mess.
The Assistant Referee signalled 8mins of stoppage time which gave Arsenal fans hope of a comeback.
A collision of head betweenThomas Partey and Kyle Walker saw both being attended to by the medic for about 6 minutes of the added-on time.
The pressure on City soon told as Saka soon laid the assist for substitute, Trossard, who feigned a cross only to shoot on target and see his shot ricochet off Akanji and into the City net for the leveler late on.
With that, the game proceeded to penalties. 1-1 apiece in normal time.
Odergaard stepped up and scored for Arsenal 1-0
De Bryune hits the frame of the goal. Miss 1-0
Trossard steps up and scores 2-0
Bernardo Silva scores for City 2-1
Saka scores for Arsenal 3-1
Rodri steps up for City and misses. Ramsdale saves 3-1
Fabio Vieira steps up and scores 4-1
Arsenal win the Community Shield 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 Full-time scoreline