Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City: Community Shield – as it happened
Riccardo Calafiori scored after 24 seconds before Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard completed a thumping win
If you want more live action, the great Tim de Lisle is covering West Ham’s (and Burnley’s) first game back in the Championship.
For Enzo Maresca, a miserable first competitive game in charge of Manchester City that began with Arsenal seizing the lead after 24.5 seconds ended with Mikel Arteta’s side lifting the Community Shield. Arsenal eviscerated City, Riccardo Calafiori’s smart opener after Myles Lewis-Skelly’s brilliant pass seemingly leaving their opponents with irrecoverable damage. Kai Havertz doubled Arsenal’s lead on 28 minutes and Martin Ødegaard in effect sealed the win three minutes into the second half, fooling Gianluigi Donnarumma in the City goal before finishing. On this evidence, the post-Pep era could be trickier than widely envisaged.
We wanted to start with a trophy and we did. We played some brilliant football… I want to score more goals and it’s a good way to start.
We showed our level today. I think we showed we are ready, we’re serious. We want to win the league again, and there are a few other trophies we want to take.
A thumping win for Arsenal, who controlled the game from the moment Riccardo Calafiori gave them the lead after 24 seconds. Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard got the others, both made by the impressive Christos Tzolis. Odegaard’s one-on-one finish was a delight.
Though City’s defending was a bit of a concern, we shouldn’t get carried away. That’s what the next nine months are for.
90+1 min Nick Parmenter draws parallels with the Charity Shield of 1998, when the champions Arsenal hammered Manchester United 3-0. That season ended with United doing the Treble, although Arsenal were probably one penalty kick away from winning the Double.
88 min Arsenal’s opening Premier League games are against Coventry (H) and Aston Villa (A).
86 min City should be able to park this game, miserable though it has been. Their opening Premier League games against Bournemouth (H) and Crystal Palace (A) should tell us more.
84 min Odegaard is booked for a late tackle on Jack Grealish. It’s his last contribution before being replaced by Eberechi Eze.
Odegaard was close to his swaggering best, particularly when he scored a delightful goal just after half-time.
81 min: Fine save by Raya! Semenyo whacks a low shot that is brilliantly stopped by David Raya, who plunges to his right to push it away. He makes so many good reaction saves.
80 min An excellent chance for Saka, who screws a first-time shot over the bar from Hincapie’s driven cross. Arsenal have cut City open with disconcerting ease.
79 min: Man City substitution Nico Gonzalez is on for Mateo Kovacic.
77 min Gvardiol goes down holding his face in the Arsenal area. He was barged over off the ball by White, a bit snide but nothing that warrants a VAR intervention. Not sure why he was holding his face either.
75 min: Arsenal substitutions Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi replace Kai Havertz and Myles Lewis-Skelly, who were both terrific. I said Lewis-Skelly was a left-back when Calafiori but he’s not really, not any more. Central midfield feels like his best position now. Maybe it always was – he played there as a kid – and we just didn’t get to see it in adult football.
73 min Cherki whistles a long-range shot that is pushed away by the diving David Raya. Comfortable save.
72 min Arsenal threaten a fourth on the counter-attack, but Tzolis’s pass to Saka is slightly delayed and Donnarumma eventually clears the danger.
City are having loads of the ball now, with Arsenal happy to wait for their moment to win the ball and spring forward.
68 min Against that, the last seven winners of the Community Shield have failed to win the Premier League that season. Arteta oot!
66 min It’s hard to believe that George Graham and Arsene Wenger’s great Arsenal teams never retained the league title. Those precedents make me slightly cautious about announcing them as 2026-27 champions before a ball has been kicked, so let’s just it won’t be a surprise if they win it by 10 points. They’re a seriously good team who, on this evidence, will have no problems with complancency or lack of hunger.
63 min More soft porn from Odegaard, who sparks an Arsenal break by beating Lewis superbly without touching the ball. Eventually Saka bundles Gvardiol over and throttles a shot into the side-netting from a tight angle. Probably should have passed.
62 min I can’t stop thinking about that Odegaard goal. Who doesn’t love a mildly pornographic one-on-one finish?
60 min: Arsenal substitutions Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie on; Noni Madueke and Riccardo Calafiori off.
60 min: Man City substitutions Rico Lewis and Rayan Cherki come on for Elliot Anderson, who had a tough debut, and Phil Foden.
59 min Grealish’s whipped cross is headed over by Gvardiol.
58 min If it stays like this, it’ll be the biggest win in the Community Shield since 2014, when – yep – Arsenal beat Man City 3-0.
57 min More cheers from the Arsenal fans when Foden mishits a first-time shot from the edge of the area.
57 min Plenty of olés from the Arsenal fans as they pass the ball around for fun. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are playing olé football against Manchester City, and all bets are off.
56 min Anderson is weirdly penalised when Lewis-Skelly’s studs land on the side of his foot. Not quite enough for VAR to get involved, but it wasn’t a great challenge.
56 min Rodri’s having a good game. Bernardo Silva too.
54 min: City substitutions Omar Marmoush and Marc Guehi replace Erling Haaland and Nico O’Reilly. I guess Gvardiol will go to left-back.
53 min Gvardiol is booked for a foul on Havertz. City look a peedie bit frazzled.
50 min Before every Community Shield, we’re told it’s a chance to put down a marker for the season. Hyperbolic nonsense most of the time, but not today: Arsenal have been intimidatingly good.
What a brilliant goal, reminiscent of Kanu against Deportivo all those years ago. Tzolis’s low ball into the area was taken beautifully on the run by Odegaard who nipped in front of the lunging Gvardiol. That put him through on goal, and he sat Donnarumma down with a dummy before passing the ball gently into the net.
Martin Odegaard walks the ball into the net!
46 min Both teams have made a half-time substitution
“Hey Rob,” says Niall Mullen. “When you say YAWN don’t you mean YNWA?”
Any concerns about Arsenal’s hunger can probably be put to bed. They’ve played with an intensity that belies the status of this fixture and lead through goals from Riccardo Calafiori (after 24 seconds) and Kai Havertz.
Havertz’s goal was made impressively by Christos Tzolis, the most eye-catching of the three debutants.
Havertz screws a cross from the left that is pushed away unconvincingly by Donnarumma. Odegaard’s shot dribbles towards goal and is booted off the line by Gvardiol.
43 min White’s chipped cross from the byline is volleyed over at the far post by Calafiori. That was a pretty good chance for Calafiori to get his second.
41 min Madueke lifts a shot straight at Donnarumma from 25 yards.
40 min Doku passes the ball square across the area to Haaland, who sweeps an early shot that is brilliantly saved to his right by David Raya. Seconds later Semenyo chips a short cross from the byline towards Doku, whose volley is admirably blocked on the six-yard line by White.
38 min Calafiori is booked for diving in the area. Khusanov lunged towards him but then pulled his foot out of the way. By that point Calafiori was committed to, a-hem, engineering contact.
37 min “Welcome back!” says Niall Mullen. “Who do you think will win this year’s Premier League, Will it be the team owned by the PIF, Abu Dhabi, Bezos, Ineos, Spectre, Skeletor, or Lord Vader?”
36 min: Chance for Haaland Doku’s excellent angled pass releases Haaland, who pulls away from Gabriel on the edge of the area before lifting over with his right foot. It bobbled a bit, but a sharper Beast would probably have scored.
34 min A very good cross from Foden finds no takers at the far post. He’s been City’s biggest plus so far – nowhere near his 2023-24 peak, but with some encouraging signs thereof.
31 min “Well, it’s all been very pleasant so far,” writes Charles Antaki. “The ball shuttled fluently up and down with some nice bits of skill, even-tempered all round with no filth; no cutaways to unknown celebrities; no hydration break; no touchline cops with guns, no threat of deportation, and, above all, no Gianni. Those introduced to the game at WC 2026 will hardly recognise it as football.”
29 min That was a cracking first assist for Christos Tzolis. As Ally McCoist says on TNT, he had to get enough power to ensure the looping header cleared the City defender (Dias possibly) and reach Havertez. Easier said than done when you are jumping almost away from goal.
Odegaard cut inside from the right and curled a trademark inswinging cross to the far post. Tzolis made a good run off Khusanov and strained his neck muscles to force a looping header back across goal. It was perfect for Havertz, who headed through Donnarumma and into the net.
Arsenal have been terrific, and now they lead by two.
26 min Gvardiol scampers across to left-back to make an important lunging tackle on Madueke. City’s defenders are closer to the seat of their pants than Arsenal.
23 min Doku beats White on the edge of the area, forcing Gabriel to come across to concede a corner. Fine defending, which he celebrates with a hard-faced roar.
The corner is well held by David Raya. He throws the ball out to Tzolis, who is cynically pulled back by Foden. That’s the first yellow card of the game.
22 min Madueke does well to keep possession despite stumbling on the edge of the area. A clever backflick releases Guimaraes on the right side of the area, but he takes too long and his cutback is cleared.
Semenyo finds Foden in a pocket of space, 25 yards out. He whips an early curling shot that draws an excellent diving save from Raya. The ball bounced just in front so he did well to get it out of danger.
18 min Anderson, in the inside-right channel, flashes an early cross that evades Haaland 15 yards from goal. Haaland could have thrown himself into the Houchen position but decided against it. Nice cross though, the sort Kevin De Bruyne used to hit.
16 min Arsenal’s defensive shape has been excellent so far. City have had a few promising attacks, but everything has been in front of Gabriel and friends.