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LONDON – Arsenal lifted the Community Shield to end Manchester City’s silverware streak with a 4-1 penalty shoot-out victory after a 1-1 draw against the treble winners on Sunday.
Arsenal scored a last minute equaliser to take the Community Shield to penalties and then downed Manchester City in the shoot out in dramatic scenes at Wembley.
Mikel Arteta’s side forced the shoot-out thanks to Leandro Trossard’s heavily deflected equaliser 11 minutes into stoppage time after Cole Palmer’s superb curler put City ahead late in the second half at Wembley.
Kevin De Bruyne hit the bar with City’s first spot-kick and Rodri’s effort was saved by Aaron Ramsdale before Fabio Vieira converted the decisive kick in the annual curtain-raiser to the Premier League season.
Arsenal’s celebrations were far more frenzied than would normally be seen in what in the glamour friendly, but their jubilation underlined the months of anguish endured since they blew a golden opportunity to win their first title since 2004.
“It feels great. It doesn’t get much better than winning a trophy at Wembley against the best team in the world,” Arteta said.
“We are here to win trophies for this club. Seeing so many happy and proud people is great.”
City boss Pep Guardiola added: “We are disappointed. We would love to win today. Manchester City is a good team but sometimes you lose.
“In the end we could not do it, their penalty takers were better than us.”
City made history by becoming only the second English club to lift the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in a single season last term.
Their fifth Premier League title in six seasons came at Arsenal’s expense as the Gunners wasted the eight-point lead they held at the start of April to finish five points behind the champions.
Showcasing pound sterling160 million worth of new signings in Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber, it was clear Arsenal had a point to prove to City as they snapped into tackles with the kind of urgency that usually accompanies a title decider.
Leandro Trossard was the hero for Arsenal at Wembley (Picture: Getty Images)
While Arteta and his players cavorted around the pitch and soaked up the raucous celebrations from their fans, they might wish to note that the Community Shield winners have gone on to secure the Premier League title just once since 2011.
Arsenal led the table for 248 days last season and still fell short, prompting Arteta to admit they will need an “unheard of” points total to stop the champions, who are aiming for an unprecedented fourth successive title.
– Composed Rice –
Arteta will have been encouraged by a composed display from England midfielder Rice following his pound sterling105 million move from West Ham.
Timber, another new recruit, was also solid at left-back but Havertz was typically profligate as he wasted Arsenal’s two best chances to take the lead.
Havertz will be expected to lead the Arsenal attack while Gabriel Jesus recovers from knee surgery and this was hardly the ideal introduction to his new club for the inconsistent German.
Mateo Kovacic was energetic on his City debut after the midfielder’s move from Chelsea, but fellow Croatian Josko Gvardiol was unavailable following the defender’s arrival from Leipzig on Saturday.
Palmer was the anonymous Erling Haaland’s second half replacement and the promising youngster netted in the 77th minute.
City broke at pace and when Kieran Tierney lost the ball carelessly, De Bruyne’s header found Palmer and he curled a sublime finish into the far corner from the edge of the area.
But in a sign of things to come under the new time-wasting rules, there was a huge amount of stoppage time and Arsenal snatched the equaliser 11 minutes into the additional period.
It was a hugely fortunate goal as Trossard cut in from the right and hit his shot straight at Manuel Akanji, only for the ball to deflect off the City defender past the wrong-footed Stefan Ortega.
Arteta celebrated as though Arsenal had won the league and the Spaniard let his emotions hang out again when Vieira converted the winning penalty to light the fuse on the looming title race.
Mikel Arteta was also booked on the Arsenal bench for insisting Rodri should be shown a yellow.
New Arsenal signing Kai Havertz did have a couple of good chances in the first period, both of which he spurned as his move from Chelsea does not appear to have made him any more ruthless in front of goal, although he also picked up a yellow for chopping down John Stones.
Manchester City were not very threatening at all, with the Gunners looking more likely and it wasn’t until after the break that City managed a shot on target.
Stones was the man to produce it, with a powerful header from a corner that was well saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
The changes began coming thick and fast as the second half wore on, after no substitutions at half-time, and there was more urgency from the Premier League champions thanks to some impetus from the bench.
It was a trio of subs involved in the build up to the opening goal, as Kieran Tierney cut out a through ball but could only nudge it to Kevin De Bruyne who nodded the ball to Cole Palmer.
There was a huge amount for the 21-year-old to do on the right-hand corner of the penalty box, but he cut in on his left and curled an effort into the far top corner, past the diving Ramsdale.
Source:Bangkok Post