Arsenal Lifted The Community Shield Trophy

The Gunners won the first local trophy of the season after a victory against The Champions – Chelsea at Wembley. That was the 15th occasion Arsenal won the Community Shield. The last time they did it was in 2015 after a victory against the same opponent.

Arsenal was the better team in the first minutes of the match. Iwobi created the first good goal-scoring chance in the 6th minute, when the midfielder went past two Chelsea defenders and tried to find Lacazette in the box, but Courtois tipped the ball away. Just 2 minutes later Danny Welbeck had the chance to open the score, but his header shot found the Chelsea’s goalkeeper. In the 22nd minute the Arsene Wenger’s men were very close to score a goal. Welbeck passed the ball to Alexandre Lacazette and the former Lyon’s player made a good attempt, but his shot hit the post.

To continue with, Per Mertesacker received an injury in his head and had to leave the pitch in the 28th minute. He started bleeding after Gary Cahill hit him with his elbow. Then, the new signing of Arsenal – Saed Kolasinac came on the pitch to sub Mertesacker and that was probably Wenger’s best decision of the match.

Chelsea created their first good goal-scoring chance in the 34th minute, when Pedro tried his luck from inside the box, but his shot was parried away by Petr Cech. However, The Blues scored the first goal of the game just 50 seconds after the break. Victor Moses was the goal-scorer. It looked like Chelsea will keep their advantage in the score, but 10 minutes before the end of the game, the referee sent Pedro off and left Chelsea with 10 men.

Immediately after the red card, Arsenal took a free-kick and the substitution Kolasinac scored his first ever goal for Arsenal! 1-1! Eventually, The Gunners scored all their penalties, while Chelsea missed twice and Arsenal lifted the trophy for the 15th time in their history!

The Line-Ups

Arsenal (3-4-2-1): Cech; Mertesacker (Kolasinac), Holding, Monreal; Elneny, Bellerin, Xhaka, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Iwobi (Walcott), Welbeck (Nelson); Lacazette (Giroud).

Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Cahill, Luiz, Alonso (Rudiger); Azpilicueta, Kante, Fabregas, Moses; Pedro, Willian (Musonda); Batshuayi (Morata).