Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal captured an impressive win in Cardiff, running riot against last season’s title rivals Manchester City to set up their title defence perfectly.
While each of the starting eleven put on a great performance, four players stood out in the Gunners’ comfortable victory, as Champions Arsenal win the Community Shield in style.
David Raya returns
Despite playing only 45 minutes in pre-season and having sat on the Spanish bench for the entirety of the World Cup, David Raya stepped in without a shred of rust to deliver another composed performance in the Gunners’ net.
He made four saves throughout the 90, with the two most impressive coming in the first half.
In the 20th minute, Phil Foden managed to carve out some space and took on a shot from around 30 yards out; it was well directed, and the Spaniard dived at full stretch to make a great right-handed stop.
20 minutes later Raya made the best save of the match to deny Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian striker was the thorn in Arsenal’s side throughout last season, but this match was not a fruitful one for the forward.
Still, he should have scored; it was not for the heroics of the Arsenal ‘keeper. After being fed the ball in the centre of the penalty area, Haaland took a snap-shot, but it was strongly denied by the stopper, who again extended a great big right hand down quickly to make an excellent reaction save.
Memories would have flashed in the minds of Arsenal fans of Haaland’s winner at the Etihad back against them in April, with the position and strike of the No.9 almost the same as it was back then; however, this time Raya made an impressive save to ensure a clean sheet for his team.
Arteta’s team controlled the game from minute one, but Raya’s efforts ensured Manchester City could not sneak back into the contest.
Gabriel and Christian Mosquera partnership works wonders
Again, two players who stepped into the squad having had limited time together in pre-season.
Gabriel and Christian Mosquera were first partnered together a week before the Community Shield in the match against Dortmund at the Emirates.
Since the 60 minutes the partnership played in that 3-2 loss, the pair were not present together in the 1-1 draw against Como, as academy product Marli Salmon impressed.
The two slotted together perfectly to limit City’s attack.
They allowed Enzo Maresca’s team an xG of just 0.77 from 12 shots, while Haaland had to settle for just two attempts on goal.
Both remained positive in build-up, with the pair completing 87% of their passes, rounding off by another excellent defensive display from the centre-backs.
William Saliba’s injury is an understandable concern for Arsenal in the transfer market; the links to Ezri Konsa and Jarrel Quansah are evidence of this.
However, Mosquera has stepped up to deliver another good performance when deputising for the Frenchman and is enhancing the argument that the Gunners’ defensive options at the moment are strong enough to allow them to focus more on attacking signings for the rest of this window.
Christos Tzolis grabs two assists
Finally, it would be remiss not to mention Christos Tzolis’ exceptional performance.
The Greek has impressed all pre-season since signing for 34 million pounds from Belgian side Club Brugge.
Again, the winger proved a useful outlet. The first of his two assists was a smart header back across goal to tee up Kai Havertz lurking at the back post, with the German powering his effort past Gianluigi Donnarumma in the City net.
The second assist was a well-drilled ball straight to the feet of captain Martin Ødegaard, which allowed the midfielder to skip past everyone in sky blue and tap home Arsenal’s third of the evening.
Tzolis wins over the Emirates
Tzolis is quickly endearing himself to the Gunners faithful, frequently chasing down loose balls and challenging defenders for aerial balls.
He looks to be just as economical with the ball as the recently departed Leandro Trossard was but might lack some of the selfishness of the Belgian.
There was a moment in the first half where he found himself with an opportunity at the near post but instead of taking on the effort he chose to square across the net and City’s defence easily dealt with the delivery.
A bit more conviction could help the new signing, but he is only just starting to grow into his new environment, and his role within the team and his performances so far should warrant no criticism, as he will improve and develop in this team.
If he continues his current trajectory, he may yet be an essential player for Mikel Arteta.