Arsenal beat Manchester City 4-1 on penalties to claim the Community Shield at Wembley, after Leandro Trossard had equalised in the 101st minute of normal time.
Treble-winners City looked on course to add a fourth trophy of the year to their collection, with Cole Palmer’s fine curling shot giving them the lead on 77 minutes. Instead they were handed a third straight Community Shield defeat.
Trossard’s last-gasp effort deflected in off Manuel Akanji to send the contest to penalties, where Kevin De Bruyne – on his return from injury – blasted against the bar and Rodri saw his effort saved.
Arsenal were immaculate from 12 yards, with Martin Odegaard, Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Fabio Vieira hitting the net to land a morale-boosting blow for the Gunners in the season’s curtain-raiser.
There had been plenty of positives for Arsenal during the 90 minutes and they should have led at the break after new signing Kai Havertz missed two good chances. There were good performances from fellow newcomers Jurrien Timber and £105m man Declan Rice, too, with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale sharp late on to keep them in the game and set up the grandstand finish.
He could do nothing about Palmer’s opener, with the 21-year-old bending a brilliant strike into the far corner after a superb break from Phil Foden. England U21 Euros winner Palmer looks set for a big season ahead.
But Arsenal – who were pegged back by City in last season’s Premier League title race – battled deep into stoppage time to get their reward, and will hope this can be the catalyst to launch another battle with Pep Guardiola’s side for the major honours which will be handed out at the other end of the campaign.
Arsenal were the Premier League pacesetters for much of last season but it was City who set out to take control of this contest from the off, racking up 85 per cent possession in the first 15 minutes as Thomas Partey’s poor pass for Rice allowed Erling Haaland to tee up Rodri for a deflected shot wide.
The Gunners have won on their last five Community Shield appearances and are outright second on the honours list with 17 overall. They will now have their sights set on bigger prizes to come this season.
