For Enzo Maresca, a miserable first meaningful game in charge of Manchester City that began with Arsenal seizing the lead after 24 seconds ended with Mikel Arteta’s side lifting the Community Shield. Arsenal eviscerated City, Riccardo Calafiori’s smart early opener after Myles Lewis-Skelly’s brilliant pass seemingly leaving their opponents with irrecoverable damage. Kai Havertz doubled Arsenal’s lead on 28 minutes and Martin Ødegaard in effect sealed the win three minutes into the second half, taking great pleasure in fooling Gianluigi Donnarumma in the City goal before finishing. On this evidence, the post-Pep Guardiola era could be trickier than widely envisaged.
Christos Tzolis shone on the left, playing the whole game in Cardiff. He was involved in all three goals, assisting two. No Arsenal player played more passes into the final third. It was Tzolis’s cross to switch play to Noni Madueke, one of 10 passes before Calafiori rippled the City net. Between Lewis-Skelly rolling the ball to Martin Ødegaard at kick-off and Calafiori peeling off Abdukodir Khusanov to finish, City had a single touch of the ball; Elliot Anderson intercepted Calafiori’s pass aimed at Ødegaard in the City 18-yard box. But then Madueke cushioned a header for Ben White, who tucked into midfield, and Lewis-Skelly rolled Phil Foden before releasing Calafiori goal-side of Rúben Dias with a sumptuous reverse ball.
