Arsenal dismantles Man City to win Community Shield

Arsenal have won the first silverware of the English football season as they beat Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield.
The Gunners had to wait nine years for a trophy, which came in the form of the FA Cup in May, and they have now won two in the space of three months to leave Arsene Wenger all smiles at Wembley.
And with several good individual displays in his side’s victory, the Frenchman will be hoping his team can now challenge for the Premier League title after dispatching the reigning champions with such ease as Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud all scored.
A slow opening had both sides looking edgy with many players on the pitch exhibiting a poor first touch and some lazy-legged running.
The two sides had slightly weaker XIs than they perhaps would have wanted with their World Cup participants still yet to get up to full speed in training and, as such, two depleted defences looked decidedly dodgy.
Calum Chambers, Arsenal’s £16 million signing from Southampton, was the first to be shown up as a delightful turn from Aleksandar Kolarov left him staring into space while the Serbian raced into the penalty area and this was followed by a risky back pass, which was well cleared in the end by Wojciech Szczesny.
But it was the Man City defence, which was breached first as some excellent play saw Dedryck Boyata charge out of position and when the ball landed at Santi Cazorla’s feet he flashed a strike past stand-in City stopper Willy Caballero from the edge of the box.
And three minutes before the break, it was 2-0 to Arsenal.
Alexis Sanchez burst forward and fed the ball to Yaya Sanogo, who brushed Boyata off with ease, and his lay-off found Ramsey who beat Matija Nastasic and rolled a shot home from eight yards.
Manuel Pellegrini will certainly have concerns about his side following the match as midfield duo Yaya Toure and Fernando failed to cope against their opposite numbers.
And any fears England goalkeeper, Joe Hart, had about losing his place to Caballero will have been quelled as the Argentine struggled on his competitive debut.
Olivier Giroud replaced Sanogo at half-time and on the hour-mark he made the score 3-0 to the Gunners with a long-range dipper which, with Caballero straying too far off his line, crashed into the back of the net.
Stevan Jovetic was the only bright spark for Man City, troubling Szczesny with a header, which struck the post and a swerving effort from inside the area, while an ambitious overhead kick flew over the bar in the second half.
And, so comfortable was Arsenal’s triumph, Spanish full-back Nacho Monreal was made to look an accomplished centre-back after replacing Laurent Koscielny, a fact which will trouble Pellegrini.