Community Shield Champions

Arsenal are FA Community Shield Champions once again. Chelsea and Arsenal lined up pretty strong sides that were evenly matched in the first half. Alex Iwobi was extremely bright for us from the beginning. 23 minutes into the match, our newest Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette tried sending us to the lead and what would have exploded Arsenal twitterverse into a new realm with a quick touch, turn and curled shot that had Courtois beat, but slammed off the post. Check it out below.

Following in the sequence, Gary Cahill put an elbow in Per Mertesacker’s forehead that left BFG bloodied and had to be substituted off for the match.

Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Enter Sead Kolasinac, who took over the left centerback spot while Monreal slid center for Per. Kolasinac presence was immediately felt on the pitch and with every touch of the ball, I laughed knowing Schalke let his contract run down and Arsenal picked him for free in this current market.

Arsenal went into the half tied 0-0 with Chelsea. I’m not entirely sure what was talked about at halftime, but coming out with a purpose was not one of them. Arsenal conceded within 3 minutes to Victor Moses. Arsenal’s backline was not on the same page as the ball was cleared. Hector Bellerin let Moses run right past him and Rob Holding never saw Moses slide right between them as the ball was headed back across. 1-0 Chelsea with an entire half to play.

As the game wore on and Arsenal pushed for an equalizer, our midfield duo of Elneny and Xhaka grew their presence to a very high level. Chelsea’s clumsiness in the tackle between Alonso, David Luiz, Azpilicueta committed an array of fouls to slow down Arsenal’s attack which finished with 54% possession on the day. Pedro decided to try his hand at defensive duties and launched himself studs up into Elneny’s ankle to result in a red card.

On the restart, Arsenal’s two newest Bundesliga recruits teamed up for this excellent set piece.

Welcome to Arsenal, Sead Kolasinac! With Chelsea down to 10 men, Arsenal pushed for a winner and even with 5 minutes extra time could not find one. Straight to penalties to decide the winner, with a new format of shooting rotation.

The video below is the entire shootout, including what can only be described as a solar eclipse, Petr Cech saved a penalty!

Olivier Giroud delivers the final strike and we’ve completed the preseason treble!