Surely one can forgive Mikel Arteta for harboring perhaps overly optimistic confidence in believing that Arsenal’s Community Shield victory against Manchester City proves they can slug it out with 5-times Premier League, and last season’s Treble – winners in the new season’s Premier League title race.
Former Pep Guardiola apprentice coach Arteta issued a significant statement of intent buoyed with a confidence that seemed a tad premature ahead of the new season after the Gunners displayed some spunk and defiance when they capitalized on a goal deflecting off City’s Manuel Akanji from a scrappy Leandro Trossard kick that stretched into a final 4-1 penalty shootout that won them the match at Wembley on Sunday.
The Blues were visibly sluggish off the starting blocks in the first half despite commanding possession but came alive when Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden were fielded as substitutes later in the second half, which inspired Cole Palmer’s superb curler that gave City a 77th minute lead. However, Arsenal pluckily scrapped on and Leandro Trossard equalised with a kick that deflected off Manuel Akanji 11 minutes into stoppage-time.
This was just the kind of lucky break that could have aided Arsenal’s Premier League title pursuit last season in the final stretch when they blew an eight-point lead in the title battle last season, while City in contrast found their mojo to extend their Premier League reign with a fifth crown in six seasons.
Nonetheless, the Gunners gladly capitalized on Trossard’s fluke and found their penalty shootout form in final extra time converting all four of their penalties in the shoot-out while Kevin de Bruyne hit the bar and Rodri’s effort was saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
The winning penalty by Fabio Vieira was obviously cathartic for Arteta and his players who had been stumped into agonizing frustration after their title misery last season.
With the new Premier League season starting on Friday, Arteta is now convinced his side’s Wembley efforts will is relective of their ability to battle it out with last season’s Treble winners.
“It’s great if the players are convinced they can beat every team. I think we showed a real determination and fight to win the game,” Arteta said.
“We deserved to win against a team that has played in so many finals.
“It doesn’t get much better than winning a trophy at Wembley against the best team in the world.”
The Arsenal manager took a divergent path from his former mentor Guardiola in sticking up for the new time-wasting rules that led to eight minutes of stoppage-time, plus an additional five minutes on top of that due to injuries in the extra period.
“We are going to have to be prepared to play 100 minutes because it is going to happen every week. It’s good because it was going too far the other way,” he said.
City boss Pep Guardiola disagreed and maintained a totally different view on the issue, stating:
“It’s a good question for the international board because they don’t consult with managers and players. Now the games will be 100 minutes,” he said.
“Nothing happened today and there was eight minutes. If the score is 4-3, you put 45 seconds on for seven goals, tomorrow morning I am still here playing!”
It is admittedly rare for a Community Shield winner to go on to clinch the Premier League in recent seasons, so Arteta was still mindful nonetheless to urge his players not to rest on their laurels ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Nottingham Forest.
“You win a trophy today, tomorrow you have to train and prepare the Forest game, which will be a very different game to this. It lifts the spirit but that’s it,” he said.
Although his side were clearly way below par at Wembley for the majority of the match at Wembley, Guardiola had no complaints about City’s subdued performance.
“I’m surprised how good we behaved. We faced an extraordinary team. The thing was to get minutes to the players and get ready for Burnley on Friday,” he said.
“We finished an incredibly stressful season. I know how difficult this can be. We can do better, that is the target.”
Keen to ensure that not too much would be read into the final outcome of the Community Shield outcome against the Gunners, Guardiola reminded his audience that defeats in the previous two Community Shields had been followed up with titles by a City dominantly resurgent on both occasions.
“We lost three [Community Shield fixtures] in a row. Do you know why? Because we won the Premier League to be here!” he said.