Arsenal beat Manchester City 3-0 to win Community Shield in style

Arsenal began the new season with silverware after beating Manchester City 3-0 to win the Community Shield, with Riccardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard scoring the goals.

The victory gave Arsenal their 18th Community Shield triumph and provided an early statement before the Premier League season begins on Friday.

The match was played at the Principality Stadium instead of Wembley, which was unavailable because of previously scheduled concerts.

Arsenal made the perfect start, taking the lead after only 23 seconds when Calafiori finished from Luis Lewis-Skelly’s assist. It was the fastest goal scored in the Community Shield since Bobby Owen scored for Manchester City against West Bromwich Albion in 1968.

Manchester City responded with pressure and Erling Haaland forced a strong save from David Raya with a powerful effort in the 20th minute. Arsenal’s goalkeeper was called upon again before half-time, denying Haaland a clear opportunity in the 40th minute to preserve his side’s advantage.

In between those chances, Arsenal doubled their lead in the 28th minute. New signing Christos Tzolis delivered a cross for Havertz, who produced an excellent header to make it 2-0.

The goal continued Havertz’s impressive record against Manchester City. It was his seventh goal contribution against them, having scored four times and provided three assists while playing for different clubs.

Arsenal appeared close to adding a third before the interval when Havertz found himself in a dangerous position, but Josko Gvardiol intervened in the first minute of stoppage time to prevent the forward from scoring again.

The decisive moment arrived three minutes after the restart. Tzolis supplied Ødegaard, who received the ball, moved past the Manchester City defence and placed his finish into the net to give Arsenal a commanding 3-0 lead.

It was Ødegaard’s second goal contribution in his first competitive match for Arsenal, while Tzolis became the first player to create two or more goals in a Community Shield match since David Beckham did so against Newcastle United in 1996.

Manchester City introduced Omar Marmoush in the 53rd minute, with the forward replacing Haaland.

Arsenal continued to threaten and Bukayo Saka went close to adding a fourth in the 63rd minute, but his effort went just wide of the post.

Manchester City were unable to find a way back into the contest as Arsenal completed a convincing victory and lifted the Community Shield for the 18th time. The result gives Arsenal their first trophy of the new campaign before the Premier League gets under way on Friday.

New Arsenal signing Bruno Guimaraes started the match, while Marmoush began on the Manchester City bench before coming on in the second half.