Fabio Vieira struck the winning penalty as Arsenal beat Manchester City 4-1 on penalties to win 2023 Community Shield, following a comeback 1-1 draw.
Leandro Trossard’s deflected 101st minute equaliser cancelled out Cole Palmer’s 77th minute striker as Arsenal fought back to take Man City to penalties in a cagey contest.
Misses from Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri in City’s opening three penalties proved costly as Arsenal scored all four spot-kicks, with Vieira smashing the Gunners’ winning penalty into the top-left corner to secure a 17th Community Shield title for the North London club.
This win marked Arsenal’s second Community Shield title under manager, Mikel Arteta after they had also won the 2020 edition, via penalties as they beat Liverpool on that occasion.
City meanwhile became the first team to lose three consecutive Community Shields under the same manager since Manchester United lost four editions under Sir Alex Ferguson between 1998-2001.
With Man City and Arsenal widely tipped to once again go toe-to-toe for the Premier League title this season, it was little surprise that neither team wanted to psychologically concede little in a cagey opening 24 minutes.
Arsenal’s early high press however drew a 17th minute foul from Rodri upon summer signing – Havertz, which left manager, Arteta incensed at the lack of a yellow card from referee – Stuart Attwell who duly handed out a booking to Arteta for complaining.
City meanwhile managed to produce limited chances as Rodri and Julian Alvarez both fired wide in the opening 20 minutes from long-range shots.
Arsenal eventually became the first team to attempt a clear-cut chance as Ben White picked up a direct pass up the right flank, from which he cut in for Havertz to shoot on-the-turn but Ortega made a crucial block whilst Gabriel Martinelli’s follow-up was blocked by John Stones.
That opportunity spurred Arsenal into life as they continued to enjoy the better chances throughout the first half, with their closest chance coming in the 40th minute as Bukayo Saka cut back for Havertz whose close-range shot was blocked by Ortega on the goal line.
City’s best chance before half-time fell in the 43rd minute as Rodri attempted a near 50-metre strike from just inside Arsenal’s half, having found Aaron Ramsdale off his line but his shot landed on the roof of the net as Ramsdale tracked back in time to keep the tie deadlocked at the break.
The opening 17 minutes of the second half however saw little improvement as both teams exchanged scrappy chances, until Arsenal’s new record signing, Declan Rice played through Martinelli on the left but the Brazilian found Saka to lay off for Rice who rifled over the bar.
Man City eventually began to make inroads into Arsenal’s defence after De Bruyne and Palmer came on for Mateo Kovacic and Erling Haaland, with Palmer creating City’s first proper chance of the second half as his 70th minute shot was blocked by Jurrien Timber.
Palmer eventually found the breakthrough goal seven minutes later as a deep pass was flicked into De Bruyne’s path and the Belgian instinctively knocked it down for the 21 year-old to gather and calmly curl across into the far left corner.
City continued to press in order to wrap up their seventh Community Shield triumph and Alvarez broke forward in the 81st minute to slip the ball through for Foden, whose shot rolled wide across goal following a touch from Ramsdale’s left leg.
As all hope looked lost for Arsenal even after a lengthy stoppage following a nasty collision between Kyle Walker and Thomas Partey, until Saka intercepted a scrappy clearance of a corner and found Trossard to curl in via deflection from Manuel Akanji to send the match to penalties.
Martin Odegaard opened the penalty shootout with a clinical strike into the left corner to put Arsenal ahead, whilst De Bruyne smashed City’s opening spot-kick onto the bar which allowed Arsenal to double their lead after Trossard dispatched their second penalty into the bottom-right corner.
Bernardo Silva and Saka then scored but Rodri’s penalty was saved which left Arsenal 3-1 up after the third round of penalty kicks, with Vieira sealing a 4-1 shootout victory with a penalty into the top-left corner.
Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens eventually clung on to clinch this year’s Community Shield, which marked their fourth trophy of this calendar year alone, with UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup titles still to claim later this year.
What’s Next?
Man City begin their Premier League title defence with an away trip to newly-promoted Burnley on Friday 11 August at 8pm BST.
Arsenal meanwhile host Nottingham Forest at Emirates Stadium, London, at 12:30pm on Saturday 12 August in their opening league match of the new season.
Teams
Manchester City: Stefan Ortega, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akjani, Rodri, Mateo Kovacic (De Bruyne 64′), Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish (Foden 58′), Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland (Palmer 64′)
Substitutes: Ederson, Kalvin Phillips, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Gomez, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis, James McAtee
Arsenal: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel (Smith Rowe 87′), Jurrien Timber (Tierney 76′), Thomas Partey, Declan Rice (Nketiah 81′), Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli (Trossard 75′), Kai Havertz (Vieira 87′)
Substitutes: Matt Turner, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Jakub Kiwior, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Leandro Trossard, Eddie Nketiah
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Attendance: 81,145
Leave a Reply