The Community shield is the traditional curtain raiser for the new season of football in England for Premier League clubs and fans. And whilst not seen as being a piece of major silverware, the shield is always competitive between the two competing outfits.
Usually, the two teams that contest the shield is the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup from the previous season. However in this years case, it was between Premier League champions Manchester City, and second placed Arsenal, who defeated Pep Guardiola’s team on penalties to claim the shield for a record 17th time.
Mikel Arteta opted to start all three summer signings for the contest, with Kai Havertz taking up the position of centre forward for the first time in an Arsenal shirt in the absence of Gabriel Jesus. Declan Rice started in midfield in the position previously played by Granit Xhaka, and Jurrien Timber started at left back in the Gunners back four. And it would be Havertz who was presented with two of the big chances for Arsenal in the first half, when he was found by cutbacks from Saka and Ben White respectively, however Ortega Moreno saved well on both occasions. Rodri fired narrowly wide from distance for City in what was a tense first half at Wembley.
The second half continued the same way, with chances mostly few and far between. Declan Rice fired high and wide from long range which proved to be Arsenal’s only shot from the first 30 minutes of the second half.
Despite matching the treble winners in most metrics, they couldn’t prevent going behind on the 79th minute. As substitute Cole Palmer curled home impressively to give Guardiola’s team the lead. And it looked to have been a winner until the 99th minute, where Leandro Trossard’s deflected effort went past the helpless Ortega and into the City net. Sparking wild celebrations from the Arsenal end and on the touch line.
The Belgian’s last minute equaliser meant a penalty shootout would decide the winner. And after Martin Odegaard scored Arsenal’s first, Kevin De Bruyne would smash his effort off the crossbar. Bukayo Saka and Bernardo Silva would score before Rodri saw his effort well saved by Aaron Ramsdale. Fabio Vieira scored the decisive spot kick to win Arsenal their 17th community shield and start the 2023/24 season in the best possible way before The Gunners Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest.