Arsenal beat Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday, a chastening first competitive game in charge for City's new manager, Enzo Maresca.
Riccardo Calafiori put Arsenal ahead inside 25 seconds, finishing off Myles Lewis-Skelly's pass for the fastest possible start. Kai Havertz doubled the lead on 28 minutes, converting after Christos Tzolis headed on Martin Ødegaard's cross, with Gianluigi Donnarumma unable to keep out the effort. Ødegaard settled it three minutes into the second half, feinting to send Donnarumma the wrong way before finishing to the goalkeeper's right.
City arrived with far less sharpness than their opponents, having played just once in August, in Hong Kong, against an Arsenal side already six matches into their pre-season since the World Cup. City, missing Rodri amid ongoing doubts over his future, lacked control throughout, and the England midfielder Elliot Anderson struggled on his first competitive appearance since his £116m move from Nottingham Forest. Erling Haaland's only clear chance, late in the first half, drifted wide of David Raya's goal after the ball bobbled.
Arsenal handed competitive debuts to Bruno Guimarães and Tzolis, who was involved in almost all of Arsenal's good work down the left. It was the club's biggest win over City in the fixture since 2014, when Mikel Arteta captained the side, and their most one-sided Community Shield in over a decade, after the previous three finals had all gone to penalties. "We want to build on what we achieved and continue to have the ambition to win major trophies," Arteta said before kick-off. "That starts today."