Arsenal dominated Manchester City in the Community Shield in Cardiff, taking the lead after 23 seconds of the match and never looking back.
They completed a 3-0 victory thanks to that early effort from Riccardo Calafiori, followed by goals from Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard.
Mikel Arteta and his team will take huge confidence from this result and performance as they start the defence of their Premier League title on Friday night against Coventry City.
Enzo Maresca’s City, meanwhile, were disappointing in what was his biggest test since taking over from Pep Guardiola this summer. Their £116m ($153m) signing Elliott Anderson had little impact in midfield and he and Erling Haaland were substituted by the hour mark.
City’s first league match is at home to Bournemouth on Sunday August 23.
Sam Lee, Jordan Campbell and Art de Roché analyse the key talking points…
How did Arsenal score after only 24 seconds?
When they last met at Wembley in February’s League Cup final, the accusation levelled at Arsenal was that they lacked ambition.
They made sure there could be no such claim this time, scoring after just 23 seconds in what was the first goal scored in the opening minute of the Community Shield since Bobby Owen for Manchester City against West Bromwich Albion in 1968.
It all came from how aggressive Arsenal were from kick-off. Rather than pass back and play a long diagonal so they can press high up, as many teams do nowadays, Gabriel fired a pass through the lines to Odegaard who played around the corner to Calafiori.
Christos Tzolis then switched the ball from the left flank to the right, where Noni Madueke headed the ball back inside to Ben white.
His pass to Myles Lewis-Skelly was slightly short but the 19-year-old let the ball run through his body to escape pressure and played a brilliant disguised pass through to Calafiori.
The Italian was allowed to roam high up all game and his darting run inside Abdukodir Khusanov caught the Uzbek defender sleeping. As he edged out wide to guard against the ball to Tzolis, Lewis-Skelly reversed the pass inside to cut open the defence.
And the Italian fired a shot beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma in the City goal to give Arsenal a very early lead.
Jordan Campbell
Should this result make City push for Enzo Fernandez?
The need for midfield reinforcements were already obvious and there was not a lot here to suggest that things might turn out okay if City do not manage to do any more business.
But a pretty major overhaul is still planned, with Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders set to move on and Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez lined up to come in.
Bouaddi is best suited to sit at the back of midfield and replace Rodri, although at just 18 years old it would be impossible to expect him to have anything like the influence of the Spaniard.
Fernandez is seen as more of a Reijnders replacement and would operate higher up the pitch, and it would be very interesting to see how he would work with Anderson in a two-man midfield, behind a creative No 10.
Last week Chelsea imposed a deadline for Manchester City — or any club — to lodge a £120million offer for Fernandez before 5pm on Friday, and they received no bids. Chelsea said after that deadline passed that they now expected the player to remain at Stamford Bridge for the 2026-27 season.
Anderson looked bright in the first half, playing a few early balls in behind the Arsenal defence that seemed to catch Haaland off guard on the day, but could be profitable as they get used to each other. The England man battled well but as the second half petered out, with City making changes, it was hardly the right setting to make a huge impact, no matter who was being asked.
There is a huge question about how a City midfield looks without Rodri and that is a conversation that may be had for some time yet, but in the interim the club need to spark into action and get these deals over the line.
Sam Lee
Was this really Guimaraes’ first start for Arsenal?
It certainly didn’t feel like it.
The understanding between himself, Martin Odegaard and Myles Lewis-Skelly made for a seamless step into the fray for the Brazil international. The 28-year-old calmly put out fires defensively in both central and wide areas, was strong with his passing in build-up play and courageous when looking to move Arsenal up the pitch.
Rather than Arsenal’s midfield being set into specific areas of the pitch like in previous seasons, there was a nice balance to this trio, who rotated nicely depending on the moment.
(Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
That is what allowed Lewis-Skelly to find room to thread that impressive pass through for Calafiori’s opener after 24 seconds, while also being the quickest to react to David Raya parrying a shot into the six-yard box later in the first half.
Having the 19-year-old in midfield while Calafiori is at left-back adds another dimension that Arsenal did not have last year too, pairing buccaneering forward runs with exemplary vision.
Onlookers may be encouraged that the return of Declan Rice, who replaced Guimaraes, for the second half did not signal Arsenal seeing out their lead as it was. They were still intent on taking the game to City and Odegaard showed exceptional poise and confidence to sit down Donnarumma before making it 3-0.
The Arsenal captain was sharp throughout Norway’s World Cup campaign, brought that into his pre-season performances and carried on in that vein throughout this victory.
That starting midfield may give Arteta more confidence to rest Rice throughout the 2026-27 campaign, but the England international slotted back in nicely, making important interceptions at the base of midfield throughout the second half.
Art de Roché
How much confidence will this give Arsenal and Arteta?
This was exactly what Arteta and Arsenal needed after a truncated, and slightly underwhelming post-World Cup pre-season.
Arteta’s regular starters have had staggered returns during the summer, which has contributed to some sub-par performances, but those who started at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff set the tone for the afternoon nicely.
The early goal may have settled nerves if there were any, but the focus across the team afterwards to stay in front was encouraging.
Gabriel, for instance, had some shaky moments in pre-season but began this match with a strong challenge on Jeremy Doku and did not let his standards drop. Cristhian Mosquera alongside him may also gain confidence considering the way he dealt with Haaland in William Saliba’s absence.
Christos Tzolis impressed throughout pre-season, but to play this way against Manchester City is promising ahead of the start of the Premier League season. His quality of not thinking too much in the final third helped him leave Cardiff with two assists, while his consideration on the ball in deeper areas benefited Arsenal very early in the build-up for their second goal.
(David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
City still have players finding their rhythm, but Arsenal being as convincing victors as they were should be the perfect confidence booster before they welcome Coventry City to the Emirates on August 21.
Art de Roché
And should City fans be worried?
There are no two ways about it, that was really bad for City.
They were extremely brittle defensively and when they managed to create some chances in the first half they were blunt in front of goal. They did not really look dangerous when in settled possession, never really managing to get any passes in behind the Arsenal defence, although they did get Doku into some dribbling positions and had a couple of sights at goal.
Anybody who came into the game with concerns about the build-up and the press, given some concerns in pre-season but largely due to Maresca’s work at Chelsea, will not come away from this with much encouragement. Dias and Donnarumma did not always look entirely certain on the ball, while the pressing — with wingers closing down Arsenal centre-backs — was exploited and the midfield left exposed.
We should not fall into the trap of comparing everything to the Guardiola era but there were little solutions found along the way, either. All that said, these are very early days, and to compound that Arsenal are in a much more settled position, with a squad that has been together a long time for a manager who has been there since 2019.
The game was already over after Arsenal’s third, shortly after half-time, and the substitutions made shortly after, with Haaland and Nico O’Reilly going off given they have only just returned from the World Cup, ensured that most of the second half was a painful meander to the full-time whistle.
A poor display for sure but these are very early days.
Sam Lee
