Arsenal beat Chelsea on penalties to win Community Shield
Arsenal have won the Community Shield after a penalty-shootout win over Chelsea at Wembley.
Victor Moses opened the scoring in the 46th minute before Sead Kolasinac’s equaliser took the game to penalties.
Arsenal dominated the opening stages of the match and could have scored in the eighth minute. Granit Xhaka’s pass found the run of Danny Welbeck but the forward’s header went straight into the arms of Thibaut Courtois.
Alexandre Lacazette nearly opened his account later in the half but his curling shot bounced off the post.
Chelsea grew into the game and Pedro forced Petr Cech into action for the first time in the 35th minute.
Alex Iwobi had a chance to put the Gunners in front on the verge of half time but his shot was straight at Courtois.
Chelsea took the lead straight after the restart. The Arsenal defence failed to clear a corner which Gary Cahill headed back into the box. Moses was on hand to finish from close range.
The Premier League champions could have doubled their lead just three minutes when Cesc Fabregas’ cross fell to Michy Batshuayi, but he could only strike at Cech.
Arsenal went up the other end immediately and Mohamed Elneny’s volley went wide.
Elneny then tested Courtois on the hour. A driven cross evades everyone and the Belgian needed to back pedal to keep the ball out of the net. Another excellent Courtois save followed to keep out Xhaka’s long-range shot.
Alvaro Morata, who had replaced Batshuayi just a few minutes earlier, had a chance with 12 minutes remaining but his shot from a tight angle went over the crossbar.
The game was turned on its head in the 80th minute when Pedro was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Elneny. From the free kick, Xhaka delivered the ball onto the head of substitute Kolasinac who powered his header into the corner.
Arsenal pushed for a winner in normal time but Theo Walcott’s shot was easily gathered by Courtois.
The Gunners were dominant in the shootout. Walcott, Nacho Monreal, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud all converted from 12 yards. Misses from Courtois, who took Chelsea’s second, and Morata secured the 4-1 penalty victory.
Cover Photo: Wembley by Georges-adrien Carcanis under license from CC BY NC-ND 2.0
