Arsenal 3 (Cazorla 22′, Ramsey 43′, Giroud 62′) – Manchester City 0
Wembley (Community Shield)
Player Ratings – Match Highlights – Wenger’s Press Conference
Arsenal’s preseason form has had a somewhat hot and cold feel about it but the stakes were a lot more different with the curtain raiser before the grueling Premier League campaign starts. Arsene Wenger decided to keep the faith with a considerable chunk of the players that started against Monaco with consistency probably on his mind.
Arsenal almost drew first blood when Alexis Sanchez split the City defense with a carefully-threaded ball to Matt Debuchy that wasted no time in swinging a cross that was bound for Yaya Sanogo but the ball was intercepted before the lanky French lad could pounce. $amir Na$ri had grabbed the headlines for his pre-match comments about the fans but he had a claim for a penalty when his shot bounced off Debuchy. In the follow up, Scott Sinclair eased past Calum Chambers but his drilled effort was blocked.
With Man City failing to take the initiative, Arsenal instigated an attack that yielded fruit as Sanchez teed up Sanogo who in turn nudged the ball to an onrushing Santi Cazorla that skipped past Gael Clichy (played at right back) before drilling the ball past his formr SC Malaga teammate, Willy Caballero, to put the Gunners ahead.
Cazorla almost turned from scorer to provider when he threaded a neat through ball to Sanogo path and with the confidence the striker had on the back of his four-goal blitz against Benfica, the Frenchman fired a left-footed drive that went wide off the mark. Aleksandr Kolarov appeared on Debuchy’s blind side to drill a cross for Nasri but he miscued the ball, much to the amusement of the Arsenal fans in that part of the pitch. Edin Dzeko then used his pace to breeze past Chambers but his byline cross was blocked.
Arsenal doubled their money when Sanchez opened up play for Sanogo that dallied on the ball before feeding an onrushing Ramsey. The Welsh Jesus’ first touch was immaculate and his second touch from Midas himself. Caballero looked so hapless as Ramsey’s volley skipped past him.
Kolarov was having some joy on the left and he fired another cross that was intercepted by Chambers. The youngster controlled the ball and fed Alexis, that hit up a pass for Ramsey and used his raw reserves of pace to evade his marker. Ramsey’s through ball to Alexis was very inviting but the goalie had to play the role of sweeper to intercept the ball.
At half time, Wenger summoned the services of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud and the Nacho Monreal continuous experiment in the middle.
Ramsey, Gibbs and Cazorla combined superbly on the left with the hobbit-sized Spaniard blasting a shot that hit the arm of Boyata but Arsenal’s penalty appeals fell on deaf ears.
Jesus Navas launched a long ball that was headed by Jovetic which brought out a save from Szczesny but the Montenegrin had a second bite at the cherry and he launched his shot into orbit. Scott Sinclair ran with the ball and it went out of the area but it was overlooked and he laid a pass to an unmarked Edin Dzeko that blasted a shot that was saved by Szczesny.
Arsenal added some icing on the cake when Debuchy fed Olivier Giroud that fired an audacious shot past Caballero to make it three.
There was even time for the fans to do the ‘Poznan’, Manchester City’s routine celebration when they are leading…
Arsenal brought on Mathieu Flamini to shore things up in midfield and there was also some time for Tomas Rosicky to come in for Santi Cazorla. Late on, Joel Campbell got a feel of some Wembley magic.
It was an awesome game to watch and it made so much sense watching it when many Nigerian Gooners in Bheerhugs Cafe Ikeja. The brain behind Canon Crested, Simon Itodo, came around and my close buddies, @mayorbaze, @K_Sturna, @davicky1, @ChuksBass, @wheelsindk, @AmosCP, @Alexmustii, Kelechi, @i_am_OGB and@daviruz graced the occasion. There was a lot of beer too to make us more merry.
At the end of the game, Arsenal’s new captain, Mikel Arteta, lifted the trophy and took to Twitter to express his delight in being the No. 1 citizen of the club. Per Mertesacker has been promoted to the new role of vice-captain.
The good times are back again folks.
Crystal Palace comes up next.
Sayonara.
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