THE FUSE

By Razeen Gutta

Arsenal sent an early warning to the rest of the Premier League with a dominant 3-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Community Shield at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta’s champions came out firing and needed just 24 seconds to break the deadlock.

Myles Lewis-Skelly slipped a clever pass through before Riccardo Calafiori burst onto it and finished calmly past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

It was the fastest Community Shield goal since 1968.

The Gunners doubled their lead in the 27th minute. Martin Odegaard found space to cross, new signing Christos Tzolis nodded it back across goal and Kai Havertz rose above Ruben Dias to head home.

City, now under Enzo Maresca, struggled for rhythm. £116 million (± R2.5 billion) summer signing Elliot Anderson found it hard to influence proceedings, while a quiet Erling Haaland missed two first-half chances.

Arsenal made it 3-0 three minutes after half-time. Tzolis played in Odegaard, who weaved through the City defence and fooled Donnarumma with a dummy before tapping in.

Arteta also handed debuts to their new recruits. Bruno Guimaraes looked at home in midfield after hismove from Newcastle and Tzolis impressed with two assists following his switch from Club Brugge.

The result leaves Maresca with work to do ahead of City’s opener against Bournemouth on 23 August. Arsenal, champions for the first time since 2004-05, host Coventry on 21 August to kick off their title defence.

Pictured above: Arsenal lift the Shield

Source: @arsenal