FA Cup holders Arsenal won the Community Shield for a second season in a row as they beat Premier League champions Chelsea at Wembley. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the winner with a powerful drive into the top corner with his weaker left foot. Ramires headed wide unmarked from Loic Remy’s cross as Chelsea failed to hit the target before the break. Eden Hazard skied a chance over the bar before Oscar’s free-kick was parried wide by Arsenal debutant Peter Cech. It was the first time the former Chelsea goalkeeper had been called into action after 68 minutes and soon after he comfortably held on to Kurt Zouma’s header.
Arsenal went close late on through Santi Cazorla and Kieran Gibbs in a match where both sides looked rusty a week ahead of their Premier League opener. Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fires Gunners to Community Shield win at Wembley and ends Jose Mourinho’s hoodoo over Arsene Wenger on Petr Cech’s debut. Finally, after 14 attempts, Arsene Wenger has sussed this Chelsea side out. Jose Mourinho’s team is good, but they are not that good. The mental block, the psychological edge that Mourinho played upon during the numerous childish exchanges, asides and squabbles down the years has just been stripped away. What better place, what grander stage to do it than Wembley, a week ahead of the opening fixtures in the Barclays Premier League. Arsenal had to work for this, protecting a first-half lead given to them after a belting goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain by eventually chugging their way to victory against the champions.
This is not the Thierry Henry vintage of 2004 at Arsenal, the pomp of the Dennis Bergkamp team that won the domestic Double in 1998 and again in 2002. But it is coming together nicely. Chelsea were made to look ordinary and functional, a side that looks as though the improvisation and clever skills of their match-winning players has finally been coached out of them. They looked average. Wembley is Arsenal’s home now, winning successive FA Cup semi-finals, FA Cup finals and now Community Shields. They look the part. This was a triumph for their expansive first-half football, playing fast and loose in the final third of the field with the game full of runs from Theo Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Ozil, as ever, provided the intelligence to this team.