Let’s get one thing straight. No empires crumbled here at Wembley. There’s no chink in Manchester City’s armour.
Pep Guardiola’s side have lost the Community Shield three years in a row, and on the previous two occasions went on to do rather well thank you very much.
That said, it felt like a huge moment for Arsenal: both in their evolution under Mikel Arteta and their aspirations of closing the gap on City.
Eight times Arteta had faced Guardiola and eight times he had lost to his old boss – most recently at the Etihad in April when Arsenal’s title hopes were ground into the dirt.
There was talk of mental blocks and psychological hurdles, and for more than a hundred minutes yesterday (sun) it really wasn’t getting any better.
Cole Palmer netted the opening goal of the match for Manchester City at Wembley
Leandro Trossard scored in the 11th-minute of added time as he took the game to penalties
Kevin De Bruyne smashed the crossbar with his penalty after coming off the bench
Arsenal are further ahead in their pre-season preparations and would have expected to outlast a City side who started late this summer, having completed the Treble with victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul 58 days ago.
But Guardiola was canny in the use of his substitutes and three of them – Cole Palmer, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden – combined for Palmer’s wonderful goal in the 77th minute.
It looked as though City would clinch a fourth trophy in little more than three months until Arsenal substitute Leandro Trossard levelled with a deflected effort in the 101st minute. We have been told to expect more added time this season and referee Stuart Attwell set the bar high here.
So, to penalties. Martin Odegaard, Trossard, Bukayo Saka and, decisively, Fabio Vieira converted Arsenal’s four attempts.
Bernardo Silva scored for City but De Bruyne hit the underside of the bar and Rodri was denied by the excellent Aaron Ramsdale whose point-black save from Foden in the 82nd minute was crucial in keeping the Gunners in the game.
This was the third time in seven years that Arsenal had won the Community Shield on penalties, and they celebrated like they had won the league – not least new £105million signing Declan Rice who could easily have ended up at City this summer and shone on his competitive debut.
Arsenal wanted this more. They needed this more. Their fans were more up for it too. There was a degree of apathy among the City supporters and who can blame them after last season?
They have been here before. Defeat to Liverpool in 2022 and Leicester in 2021 didn’t inflict any lasting damage on their team, and neither will this.
Perhaps more worrying was the lack-lustre performance of some of their stars. Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish were instrumental in the Treble success, but both were withdrawn in the second half having barely laid a glove on Arsenal. Manuel Akanji was struggling even before he diverted Trossard’s late effort into the net.
Arsenal new boy Kai Havertz was booked for clipping the heels of John Stones
The forward also tested Stefan Ortega twice in the Man City goal but couldn’t convert
Aaron Ramsdale was nearly caught out by Rodri’s half-way line attempt in the first half
Last back into training, Guardiola’s side are first up at Burnley when the Premier League kicks off on Friday night and former City favourite Vincent Kompany will be relishing the opportunity to cause an upset.
Arsenal could certainly have taken more advantage of their chances yesterday (sun).
New signing Kai Havertz twice failed to beat Stefan Ortega in the first half, first after Ben White breezed past Akanji and then when Odegaard’s pass inside the City defender put in Saka.
At the other end, Rodri went close for City with an early effort rifled just wide of the post, and an altogether more audacious attempt from halfway five minutes before the interval when he spotted Ramsdale well off his line and sent a 50-yard chip onto the roof of the net.
Guardiola began to make changes just before the hour mark and it paid off in the 77th minute. Foden produced an exquisite turn to leave Thomas Partey trailing in his wake and guided a pass towards Palmer on the right. Kieran Tierney cut it out but only succeeded in playing the ball to De Bruyne who nodded it to the 21-year-old.
Palmer knew exactly what he wanted to do, cutting inside Tierney and curling a shot around Gabriel and beyond Ramsdale.
Palmer converted in the second half after a brilliant piece of play from Phil Foden
Trossard’s 101st-minute goal saw the clash go to penalties and Arsenal came out victorious
Arsenal lifted the 2023 Community Shield after De Bruyne and Rodri’s penalty misses
Foden should really have put the game beyond Arsenal when he was teed up in front of goal by Julian Alvarez but Ramsdale got a crucial touch to divert the ball wide and then kept out Rodri’s header from De Bruyne’s corner.
Eight added minutes became 13 when Kyle Walker and Partey needed bandaging up after a clash of heads, and that was enough for Arsenal.
Saka’s corner was headed back to him and he played the ball to Trossard. The Belgian sent Alvarez the wrong way by switching the ball onto his left foot and fired in a hopeful shot that took a big deflection off Akanji and beat Ortega.
Arsenal sensed it was their moment and seized it in a one-sided shootout.
