Insight Into The FA Community Shield As Arsenal Sings To A Glorious Season Start

Wembley stadium once again was the venue for Arsene Wenger and his men as Arsenal sent out a strong message with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Premier League Champions Manchester City in the Community shield.

Spaniard Santi Carzola got the opener for the Gunners in the 21st minute and Aaron Ramsey doubled their lead with some neat finishing moments into half-time before striker Olivier Giroud killed-off the game with a fantastic dipping 25-yard strike.

Although Arsenal looked alive from the start and duly deserved the victory the game was a sharp contrast to the fixtures of last season we saw between both sides most especially that 6-3 thrashing the North Londoners received at the Etihad. A game many of their fans would now gladly want to forget in a hurry.

City on the other were in most cases sleepy and seemed not have resumed from the holidays as most starters on the day which included the likes of Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko and Jesus Navas came out as second best in what almost looked like a one-sided affair by the time Ramsey’s delightful touch in the box paved way for the Welshman to tuck in Arsenals second in just 42minutes on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Wembley.

Yes, Manuel Pellegrini clearly saw the need for some changes at the break to bring on David Silva to find some pockets of space between the Arsenal defense surprisingly marshaled by 19 year-old Callum Chambers - the signing from Southampton who looked quite solid but for one occasion left in limbo on the chase as Edin Dzeko showed how much pace he had picked up in the World Cup in Brazil with Bosnia.

Stephane Jovetic got City’s best chance of getting on the score sheet when on the end of a Jesus Navas far-post cross but his bouncing header hit the wood-work early in the second period and the Montenegro international also saw his right footed effort saved by Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny as City looked to apply some urgency, but all threats were silenced by the most unlikeliest of strikes from Olivier Giroud.

Quite surprising and somewhat shocking even for most optimistic Arsenal faithful but delightful to watch as the Frenchman’s sublime left-footed attempt from outside the box clearly beat Manchester City’s new pair of gloves from Malaga, Willy Caballero.

Pellegrini’s side were without some big names like captain Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Alvaro Negredo who is out with a foot injury but still were judged the strongest on paper even while they filed out before kick-off but you cannot say the same for Arsenal as they did not have their World Cup winning German trio of record signing Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker.

It did not matter as the Gunners started with great pace and exerted their dominance for most parts of the game and while some may argue it’s the Community Shield and only a pre-season curtain raiser, it may be a glimpse of what Arsene Wenger has in store for the new season.

After winning the F.A Cup with a 3-2 come-back win on this same venue (Wembley) against Hull City in May, the Arsenal manager has found his way back to trophy winning success after 8 barren seasons and lifting the which has become quite a contest in English Football especially among the top flight teams might be the right spark they need to cause problems for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in title race.

It all starts in the coming weekend with City at St. James’ Park to begin their Premier league defense against Newcastle while Arsenal with fresh additions to a shiny looking trophy cabinet as they welcome Crystal Place to the .

Olisa Chukwumah @Olisa141

Olisa Chukwumah is a Broadcast Journalist/Sports Anchor with 99.3Nigeria Info FM and 96.9 Cool Fm Lagos.