Arsenal made a statement of intent for the new Premier League season, thrashing Manchester City 3-0 to lift the Community Shield at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Sunday, handing Enzo Maresca a chastening start to life as City’s head coach.

The reigning champions needed just 23 seconds to break the deadlock, with Riccardo Calafiori slotting past Gianluigi Donnarumma after a slick pass from Myles Lewis-Skelly. Arsenal doubled their advantage in the 28th minute when Christos Tzolis, impressing on his competitive debut, headed across for Kai Havertz, whose effort squirmed through Donnarumma’s grasp and over the line. Martin Odegaard added the third shortly after the restart, dispossessing Josko Gvardiol before rounding Donnarumma and rolling the ball into an empty net, with Tzolis again credited with the assist.

City, appearing at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium for only the second time in the club’s history, offered little response despite carving out two decent openings before the break, with David Raya and Ben White combining to deny Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku.

Arteta’s side were without several key figures, including William Saliba, Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Bukayo Saka, while City carried doubts over Rodri heading into the game.

The victory extended Arsenal’s dominance over City in Community Shield meetings, with the Gunners now unbeaten in all competitive fixtures against City in the fixture’s history, having previously won 4-0 in 1934 and 3-0 in 2014 before edging a penalty shootout in 2023. It also marked Mikel Arteta’s fifth Community Shield triumph across his time as both player and manager, extending Arsenal’s account in the competition to 17 titles, one of only two clubs with more Shield wins than Manchester United’s 21.

For City, the result offered an early reality check as the club begins life without Pep Guardiola, who departed at the end of last season. Maresca, taking charge of his first competitive fixture since arriving at the Etihad, will now turn attention to City’s Premier League opener as he looks to arrest what was a chastening curtain-raiser to the new campaign.

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