Manchester City slumped in a Community calamity on Sunday afternoon as Arsenal strolled to a convincing 3-0 victory at Wembley. Goals from Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud secured the Gunners' 13th Community Shield since its inauguration in 1908.
Armed with the pace of £35m man Alexis Sánchez, Arsenal controlled the opening stages of the game and feasted on the inexperience of Manchester City's unfamiliar back line. Dedryck Boyata and Matija Nastasić formed a tremulous partnership in the heart of Manuel Pellegrini's defence, whilst Gaël Clichy occupied the role at right full-back.
Attempting to lift their second Community Shield in three years, the Premier League champions crumbled in the absence of eight key players. Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Sergio Agüero and Álvaro Negredo watched on uncomfortably from the sidelines, whilst new signings Bacary Sagna and Frank Lampard were handed a painful first glimpse of their new team in action.
(Manchester City suffered due to the absence of eight key players on Sunday afternoon)
The FA Cup winners took a deserved lead on 21 minutes when Santi Cazorla tip-toed past Dedryck Boyata and slotted in a precise finish past Willy Caballero. The Belgian defender has recently signed a new deal with the blues, but his uncertainty in the heart of City's defence presented Arsenal with an appetising amount of space around the 18-yard-box.
(Santi Cazorla angles in a left-footed drive to open the scoring at Wembley)
City were lacking imagination and the exhausted legs of Yaya Touré failed to offer the blues any impetus in attack. Former Gunner Samir Nasri marched forward to the tune of relentless booing with purpose, but Arsenal defended well to cancel out the Frenchman's efforts.
The craft and speed of Alexis Sánchez continued to punish a debilitated City back line and the Chilean showed admirable strength to create Arsenal's second just before half time. The former-Barcelona winger stroked the ball into the path of Aaron Ramsey who fired past Caballero to double his side's lead.
(Aaron Ramsey doubles Arsenal's lead)
The introduction of David Silva after half time supplied Manuel Pellegrini's side with a dose of urgency and creativity they lacked in the first 45 minutes, but Wojciech Szczęsny was on hand to block a fierce effort from Stevan Jovetić.
For all City's dominance in possession, they lacked any real firepower in front of goal and their wastefulness was punished on the 60 minute mark when Olivier Giroud's deflected shot made it 3-0 to Arsène Wenger's side.
(Olivier Giroud effectively ends the tie with a deflected effort 30 minutes from time)
Match Stats
Possession: Arsenal 42% Manchester City 58%
Shots: Arsenal 8 Manchester City 11
Shots on Target: Arsenal 4 Manchester City 1
Corners: Arsenal 3 Manchester City 7
Fouls: Arsenal 13 Manchester City 15
