ARSENAL VS MANCHESTER CITY

3-0

Sunday 10th August 2014

So, as is tradition, Sunday saw last years' Premier League and FA Cup winners go head to head in what is affectionately known as the 'curtain raiser' to the new season, the FA Community Shield. It was Arsenal's day in the end, with first half goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, followed by a spectacular strike from Olivier Giroud early in the second period enough to see off a lackluster Manchester City. What does it mean in the long run? Very little. But it was a statement of intent from Arsenal whose new signing Alexis Sanchez did enough to suggest that the Gunners are well on their way to being genuine contenders for the league for the first time in almost a decade. 

Let's get down to the nitty gritty:

THE SYSTEMS

Arsenal took early control of the game, recording 70% of possession in the opening twenty minutes. They were patient and creative with the ball, and operated an exceedingly high press without it, which meant that City were forced to rush their attacking game at times, and were forced backwards on a number of occasions just to retain possession. In fact Arsenal retrieved the ball within the City half on eight occasions in the opening quarter of an hour. 

The reason this was so easy for Arsene Wenger's men was that they had City outnumbered in vital areas of the pitch. The Gunners relied on their full backs to provide width, which allowed the front four of Alexis, Ramsey, Cazorla and Sanogo to clog up the central area of the field, often joined by the outstanding Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshire. 

City, on the other hand were operating, unusually for them, with two out and out strikers. While Jovetic and Dzeko toiled with a series of fruitless off the ball runs, City struggled to bring wide men Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas into the game. The lack of a number ten (or at least a deeper lying striker) meant that there was no link between the holding midfield pairing of a slightly out of shape looking Yaya Toure and the struggling, oft out of position Fernando, brought in for £12m from Porto this summer. Toure usually loves to burst forward but such was Arsenal's attacking intensity, he and Fernando were committed to shielding the back line, and City were often forced to slow their build up, allowing Arsenal to regain composure and organisation at the back. 

Arsenal's energy, attacking in numbers and high press meant that they could easily exploit City's systematic weaknesses and they made the Champions pay by twice unpicking them in the first half. David Silva's introduction after the break was clearly intended to link up City's defense and attack, and he had an immediate impact, creating City's best chance of the game around the 50 minute mark. The introduction of Flamini, along with Arteta's superb man marking, quickly saw him kept effectively out of the action, though. 

Even in the second half, City were not committing enough men forward in attack, with the wide players offered scant support when the ball eventually made its way out to them. 

Arsenal's experienced Koscielny and the exciting young Calum Chambers had more than enough in their respective lockers to deal with crosses into the box while Szczesny quietly went about his business in a manner that suggests he is not fearing that his place in the side may be under threat despite the signing of the Columbian David Ospina.

Giroud's 25 yard strike capped the day for Arsenal just as they started to show signs of fatigue, and, with that, the game slowed to a ponderous tempo as both sides prioritised a clean bill of health ahead of next weeks opening round of league matches.

THE MOMENT

Throughout the game Mikel Arteta was looking like my first ever Unsung Hero, but then he started performing so eye-catchingly that he couldn't qualify. The new Arsenal captain, after the departure of Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona, neutralised the threat of David Silva within a minute of the Spaniard's opening contribution, and City's attacking maestro barely featured in the game from that moment on. 

The key moment came around the 73rd minute as Szczesny made his only mistake of the game. Mis-hitting a routine pass, the Arsenal keeper played the ball directly to Silva around the Arsenal 18 yard box. Silva, though, barely had time to get the ball under control before Arteta had it off him, cleanly, efficiently and quietly. It could have been the beginning of a City comeback, but in the end, it came to nothing at all.

In a midfield packed with flair, pace and excitement, Arteta looks a little out of place at Arsenal these days. Wilshire and Flamini are excellent at dealing with danger in the middle of the pitch, but what Arsenal have lacked, arguably since Viera, is a player who can spot the danger and alert his teammates to it before the opposition can punish them. His experience could be vital to Arsenal if they are to maintain a serious title challenge this year. 

UNSUNG HERO

This, in all honesty, could have gone to either of the Arsenal full backs who played a vital role providing width throughout the game and allowing the three attacking midfielders to move inside and congest the middle of the park. At a pinch, though, it has to go to Kieran Gibbs. 

While new signing Debuchy offered more going forward and played some wicked crosses in the opening twenty minutes, Gibbs went about his duties with all the calm of a player more than accustomed to playing against world class talent on the Wembley stage. Rarely out of position, despite bombing forward and linking up nicely with Ramsey and Cazorla on a number of occasions, Gibbs handled Jesus Navas with ease in the first half and stayed alert to the threats and trickery of Silva and the guile and consistency of Milner throughout the game. So assertively did he go about his business, in fact, that I can't seem to find an image of him anywhere near the trophy; everything an Unsung Hero should be!

All in all the Community Shield always means a lot to the team that wins it, and is disregarded as nothing but a mere pre-season friendly by the team that doesn't. City fans have nothing to fear with a host of key players waiting to re-enter the fray, but Arsenal will take this momentum and run with it. 

NEXT TIME 

That's it from Unsung Analysis this week, but I'll be covering the opening game of the Premier League season on Saturday, when Manchester Utd. take on Swansea City at Old Trafford, before writing up my Unsung Transfers of the Summer just before Deadline Day. 

And anyway, let's face it, who hasn't missed the sight of this?

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