Photo Credit: Getty Images
Arsenal beat Manchester City for the second time in their last 17 head-to-head games, taking the FA Super Cup in the process.
Manchester City beat Arsenal for the 16th time in their last 17 head-to-head meetings, while also clinching the FA Super Cup.
The English season traditionally opens with a game for the Super Bowl, or as it is also called “Community Shield”. Last season, Manchester City won both the Premier League and the FA Cup, so in the battle for the Super Bowl, they were opposed by the second club in the national championship – Arsenal. Interestingly, of these two clubs, the London club was the last to take the trophy. It happened in 2020. Since then, Pep Guardiola’s men have been able to fix it twice, but they lost to Leicester and Liverpool.
The game traditionally took place at a sold-out Wembley. The starting lineup was a bit surprising except for Manchester City. At the door was not Ederson, but Stefan Ortega. Also in stock were Phil Foden and he recently recovered from injury to Kevin De Bruyne. But Arsenal had no surprises. All the expensive purchases in the offseason ended up on the field. In addition, Kai Havertz prevailed, appearing in the midfield throughout the pre-season, but due to the injury of Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Arteta simply did not have many options.
From the first minutes, the “gunners” tried to block all directions for passes already in the middle of the “townspeople” field. And this, perhaps, is the optimal decision against Guardiola’s pupils, since the first 15 minutes of Manchester City barely reached the third of the alien field. They used pressure so actively that at times Declan Rice turned out to be the deepest of them all, which says a lot about how great he was. As soon as the passing game in the opponent’s half more or less worked, Rodri immediately launched a dangerous low shot into the corner.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The first truly dangerous moment came only at half time, when Ben White, who joined the attack, beat Manuel Akanji very well in a multidirectional movement and sent the ball into the penalty area. After a slight ruckus, he finished off Gabriel Martinelli, whose punch stopped John Stones in the chest. After that, Arsenal took the initiative in their hands, slightly cut the ball possession statistics, and Bukayo Saka created a couple of good chances, one for himself and the second for Havertz.
After the break, the posts wobbled again for a long time and the first goal chance presented itself in the second 45 minutes, as in the first half, in the middle: White hit the penalty area perfectly and Saka only had to hit the ball. the target. but he generally moved his foot past the ball. And all because of Cole Palmer, who scored with a magnificent sweep. Five minutes later, Foden was able to shoot all the questions, but failed to break the goalkeeper. And this moment will have nightmares for at least a few more days, because already in the 11th minute added (with eight, initially marked on the fourth official’s scoreboard), Leandro Trossard equalized with the help of a rebound from Akanji. By the way, his goal was similar to Palmer’s first: they both moved from the corner of the box a little closer to the center and struck.
In the penalty shootout, all four hits by Arsenal’s players were almost flawless, while Manchester City missed two out of three: De Bruyne went for his team’s first shot, but hit the crossbar, and soon after, one of The most notable players of the match, Rodri, failed to get past Ramsdale.
Photo Credit: Photo Source: Getty Images
Late in the match, it’s worth noting that Arteta found a way to contain the opponent by applying massive, high pressure. But that was also the problem: Manchester City scored just after breaking the Gunners’ pressure and fled into the rarefied space left by the rival. In a good way, the “citizens” should have taken things to victory calmly, but football is a game of individual episodes and even moments. This time it was the defender’s rebound in the final seconds.
Photo Credit: Photo Source: Getty Images
The English season started off strong: far from being the most exciting game, it ended with a crazy denouement and an always spectacular penalty shootout. Will success herald Arsenal’s return to the top of the Premier League? We will continue to find this out soon, but the expectations of the team are now high, as they have never been in the last ten years.
