Mikel Arteta had hoped for a strong performance from his team in the pre-Community Shield press conference, but statistically speaking, the Community Shield encounter itself was a tight contest. Even though Manchester City expectedly had the lion’s share of ball possession, Arsenal matched them close in terms of output, as the Gunners had seven shots to Manchester City’s eight. The Cityzens had four shots on target to Arsenal’s three, while Arsenal had more shots off target, as well as less blocked shots.

In regard to the goals, Manchester City’s Cole Palmer, who replaced Erling Haaland to allow Julian Alvarez move up front scored a fantastic goal – a sweet curler that left Aaron Ramsdale no chance in Hell. The Gunners will have to blame themselves for the poor transition, but Kieran Tierney could have probably done better to close down the attacker, instead of allowing him to pick his spot and execute the neat finish. Arsenal’s equalizer had a touch of fortune about it, with Leandro Trossard latching onto Bukayo Saka’s tame pass and firing a shot that deflected off Manuel Akanji to send the game to spot kicks. The goal came really really late – on the 11th minute of stoppage despite it being for eight minutes, but when you factor in the clash of heads that involved Thomas Partey, I guess it’s okay.

The Community Shield also saw all three Arsenal signings start the game, which could serve as a template for the rest of the season, till Gabriel Jesus gains full fitness, at least. Kai Havertz, who had played as a left eight for a considerable chunk of the preseason campaign started as a center forward in Eddie Nketiah’s stead, and he had two big chances that were saved by Stefan Ortega after some good work from Saka and White in the byline. Jurrien Timber, who had played center back, right back and right wingback for the entirety of his career continued playing the Oleksandr Zinchenko role on the left, inverting to midfield and was a bright spark for the team before he was eventually substituted for Tierney. British record fee signing, Declan Rice, had some good 80 minutes under his belt, but he featured on the left eight position, supporting midfield and attack adequately.

Arteta was certain about the team’s unpredictability as his substitutions coincided with several tactical tweaks as Arsenal changed their game plan on the go. Trossard and Tierney’s introductions were pretty much like-for-like, even though Tierney didn’t invert when he joined the proceedings. However, the introductions of Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira saw Arteta make some changes to his setup, with Havertz dropping to the left right role to allow Nketiah spearhead the attack, but the German schemer continued to foray forward and support the attacking third. Arsenal also went gung ho as Gabriel was sacrificed late on to allow the team have more attacking impetus.

The penalty kicks were really good, and Vieira’s spot kick to win the Community Shield was a peach of a finish. Arsenal has had some form of ‘practice’, with the skills challenge against MLS All Stars, as well as those unnecessary penalties in the preseason defeat to Manchester United. All spot kick takers looked very confident, even though the taker that must have the hugest sigh of relief was Saka. He missed a decisive penalty in the title run-in against West Ham last season and also missed another in the exciting friendly against Barcelona, but big kudos to him for making himself available in the penalty shootout against Manchester City in the Community Shield. That shows some level of confidence and I hope he gets chances to convert some more in the course of the season.

Finally, Arsenal showed a good measure of confidence in the match against a Manchester City side that has been a constant thorn in the flesh of Mikel Arteta for the last couple of years. Pep Guardiola’s side did the double over Arsenal last season and the Cityzens would have been in bullish mode coming into the contest, but Arsenal held their own and put up a massive fight up till the very end, as shown with the equalizer. This will serve as a confidence booster for the players, and they would be happy to get one over the same side that knocked them out of the FA Cup and displayed them from the summit of the Premier League table, despite leading for a whopping 248 days.

Preseason is well and truly over, and all roads lead to the visit of Nottingham Forest, which will be a good way to open the Premier League campaign.

Sayonara.

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