Arsenal, today, August 6, defeated treble winners Manchester City on penalties to win the FA Community Shield title.
City took control in the first quarter of the match with smooth and relaxed possession play. But the Gunners edged the rest of the first period, helped by Declan Rice dropping deeper.
The midfielder found more space there to pick a pass, as well as freeing right-back Ben White to overlap more.
Arsenal’s new ‘false No 9’ Havertz missed by far the two finest opportunities of the opening 45 minutes.
First, White’s pull-back was just behind the German, who reacted well to swivel but saw his a left-footer smartly saved by Stefan Ortega. After that, Havertz got an opportunity to score when Bukayo Saka’s pass fell perfectly for him, but the former Chelsea player shot straight at Ortega.
The deadlock was broken in the 78th minute after Manchester City star, Cole Palmer dinked in from the right to measure a perfect left-foot curler into the far top corner. Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale went on to foil Phil Foden’s attempt to score.
However, with few seconds to go, Leandro Trossard who came on as a substitute for Arsenal got hold of a short corner, cut into the box and had a pop at goal which was deflected past goalkeeper Stefan Ortega by defender Manuel Akanji, taking the game to penalties.
The first surprise in the penalty shootout came after Kevin De Bruyne hammered against the cross bar after Martin Odegaard opened the scoring for Arsenal.
Trossard and Bukayo Saka made no mistake for Arsenal before Rodri saw his effort saved by Aaron Ramsdale, allowing Fabio Vieira to score the winner and complete a 4-1 win on penalties.
