Arsenal 3 Man City 0: Rampant Gunners win Community Shield to give new boss Enzo Maresca a huge reality check

MIKEL ARTETA and his Arsenal team sent the nation to sleep on their way to winning the Premier League title last season. Yet if the champions keep playing like they did here at the Millennium Stadium, the club will not only defend their crown with ease but they will do it in style and will have to start getting some serious credit. Riccardo Calafiori’s strike put Arsenal ahead in just 25 seconds – the quickest in Community Shield history Credit: Alamy Kai Havertz nodded home a second midway through the first half Credit: PA Riccardo Calafiori got Arsenal off to a stormer with a goal after 24 seconds, Kai Havertz headed the second and the match was over when Martin Odegaard scored a goal of pure beauty at the start of the second half. While Arsenal were impressive, you have to take into account that City were abysmal in what was a worrying sign post-Pep Guardiola. Sign up for the Arsenal newsletter Thank you! Enzo Maresca has a proper job on his hands. There’s no doubt about that. With skipper Rodri absent and presumably Barcelona-bound, this was also a chilling indicator of how City could struggle with the loss of their midfield general along with their legendary boss Eliott Anderson was anonymous in midfield and for £116m, City will demand much more than this. Phil Foden, who faces a key season at City, was poor before being put out of his misery on the hour and Erling Haaland was not any better. While the Community Shield is a famously-bad indicator for what can unravel during a season, Arsenal will be looking at the positives and there were stacks of them. Defending the title Premier League is even more difficult than winning it but Arteta;s team wil go into Friday’s opener at home to Coventry with a real swagger. Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK Martin Odegaard strolled into the box and tapped in their third of the afternoon Credit: Alamy Despite Arsenal simply doing enough in their games last season without delivering much sparkle, Arteta has previously overseen dynamic, exciting football but the problem was the club kept finishing second. But now they have finally won the title, we should see a team playing more expansive football to get fans on the edge of their seats again. Arteta will be delighted at the way his midfield three of new boy Bruno Guimaraes Myles Lewis-Shelly and man-of-the-match Martin Odegaard ran the game in the first half. Guimaraes is a relative steal at £75m and he was given just 45 minutes before Declan Rice took over. Odegaard delivered the type of classy performance we saw from him at the World Cup which was good, because he did not end the season well with Arsenal despite lifting the trophy. It was a bad day at the office for new Man City boss Enzo Maresca Credit: Getty As for Lewis-Skelly, he may have been offered to Chelsea and Manchester United but it seems Arteta knew nothing about it. Until the Champions League final which he started, it looked as though Lewis-Skelly could be on his way on loan this season but there is little chance of that happening now. Despite his disastrous spell in English football for Norwich, Tzolis – who had a hand in two goals – proved that he could also be a good addition even though Arsenal are still looking to strengthen out left. And although the back four did not have too many struggles against City yesterday, it looks as though they will strengthen further at the back. With Arsenal having snapped up all of the tickets returned by Manchester City, this part of south Wales felt a bit north London. Seconds into the game, Calafiori delivered a lethal finish any striker would have been proud of after Lewis-Skelly cut through the City defence with a brilliant through ball. Arsenal were rewarded for starting so aggressively and it took City 20 minutes to sort themselves out. Foden, who has not scored since December, had City’s first decent chance but David Raya saved. The Arsenal keeper also saved from Haaland, who also wasted an earlier chance, yet City were poor. But by the time Haaland had those chances, Arsenal were two up with Gianluigi Donnarumma failing to keep out Havertz’s header after Tzolis nodded down a terrific ball from Odegaard. Noni Madueke and Calafiori had chances to hand City an embarrassing half-time score but failed to take those chances. New signing Christos Tzolis ran the show for Arsenal with two assists Credit: Alamy Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will be happy with his side’s high-energy display Credit: PA Yet a couple of minutes into the second half, Arsenal were rewarded for more dynamic, high-tempo football. Tzolis, who has arrived from Club Brugge for £34m, was involved again playing in Odegaard and he then took a first touch to take the ball away from Josko Gvardiol and then delivered a delightful dummy to send Donnarumma to the ground before scoring. It wa shis first goal since December and Odegaard has to score more. Jack Grealish, whose last competitive game for City was 15 months ago, was a surprise half-time sub and did okay. Yet what summed up City is that their first shot on target in the second half was not until the 74th minute when Rayan Cherki’s effort from the edge of the box was stopped by David Raya. By then, Arsenal’s fans were in party mood while many supporters in light blue shirts had already left to head home. It is early days but City supporters will be worried about their team. Because as Arsenal fans will tell you – following Arsene Wenger departure – life can get a bit bumpy when you lose a managerial great. Comment now