
Arsenal
came from behind to beat 10-man Chelsea 4-1 in a penalty shootout after
playing out a 1-1 draw in the Community Shield at Wembley.
Victor Moses had put Chelsea ahead moments into the second half but after
Pedro was sent off for a foul on Mohamed Elneny, substitute Sead Kolasinac
headed Arsenal level late on.
All square after 90 minutes, the game went to a shootout with goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois and new signing Alvaro Morata missing the target for
Chelsea.
Olivier Giroud duly converted Arsenal's fourth kick to give the Gunners
another Wembley win over their London rivals, fresh from defeating them in
the FA Cup final in May.
Here, we pick out five talking points from the game…
New penalty format
Judging by the murmurs that reverberated around Wembley when Nacho Monreal
stepped up to take his spot-kick, not every supporter in the stadium is yet
au fait with the new 'ABBA' shootout format. While the winner does still
take it all, players from either side no longer take it in turns. Instead,
Monreal followed team-mate Theo Walcott in slotting home.
The change is designed to make shootouts fairer - reducing the advantage for
the team taking the first penalty and it certainly worked out that way for
Arsenal at Wembley. One intriguing aspect is whether or not consecutive
misses by the same side will become more likely, Morata joining Courtois in
failing to find the target with back-to-back kicks.
One thing Antonio Conte was clear about afterwards was that allowing his
goalkeeper to take the second kick was not indicative of an overly casual
attitude to the game. "If you have a player who shows you during the
training session that he is one of the best then you pick him to shoot the
penalty," he said. "Don't forget that Morata is a forward and he did the
same."
Misery for Morata
Indeed, Morata endured an outing to forget. Chelsea's new No 9, a £70m
signing from Real Madrid, not only squandered a headed chance when unmarked
in stoppage time but then proceeded to direct his penalty wide of the post
in the shootout. This was not the way that the Spaniard tasked with
replacing Diego Costa wanted to introduce himself.
"Morata needs to work but it is normal," said Conte afterwards. "He stays
with us for only one week and it is very important to find a good physical
condition and to understand our idea of football. He needs a bit of time but
that's normal and it's the same for [fellow new signing Antonio] Rudiger. It
will be the same also for [Tiemoue] Bakayoko."
Morata will get over this brief substitute appearance, of course. In fact,
there were signs that the tall striker can be a useful target for the
Premier League champions, winning several headers. But Michy Batshuayi, the
man who started up front for the Blues, will feel he did enough to get the
nod against Burnley. Their battle to be first choice is one to watch.
Lacazette fares better
There is a similar rivalry emerging at Arsenal and while Giroud had the
final say, Gunners fans will have been more intrigued by what his
prospective replacement can offer this team. Alexandre Lacazette joined in a
£52m deal from Lyon in the summer and he had the fans on their feet midway
through the first half with a passage of play that showed real quality.
The Frenchman turned into space in his own half before threading a pass out
wide to Hector Bellerin with the outside of his right boot. Upon receiving
the ball back he picked the right option by spreading the play out left and,
after getting the return pass, then curled an effort against the far post.
It was his best moment and gave just a glimpse of what he can do.
"Lacazette is stronger every week," said Arsene Wenger afterwards. "I
believe today is the first time you have seen physically that he is ready.
He still needs to adapt to the intensity of the game but overall he had very
interesting moves and I believe that after what we have seen today he will
become stronger and stronger. He had an interesting game today."
Kolasinac makes impact
Lacazette's performance was not quite as interesting as that of Arsenal's
other summer signing Kolasinac. While two expensive new strikers were on
show on Sunday it was the Bosnian free transfer who headed in the late
equaliser that helped Arsenal to turn the game around. He was already
earning admiring roars from the crowd well before that.
Indeed, having come on as a first-half substitute for Per Mertesacker, one
surging run down the left wing in the second half saw him bulldoze beyond
several Chelsea players. As well as flexibility, Kolasinac will bring
physicality to this Arsenal team. "He had a very interesting performance
last week," said Wenger. "I had a hesitation about playing him at Wembley
with the pressure, but when he came on he was outstanding.
"He is physical very strong, naturally. You have players who are pumped up
in the gym and players who are born strong. He is the second part. In the
Premier League, power plays a part but it is not only that. I took him too
because of attitude. You need a combination of talent and attitude. He looks
to me like he has talent but also has a very strong attitude."
Just getting started
Whether Kolasinac and Lacazette will be the last of Wenger's summer signings
remains to be seen. For while Wenger spoke of reducing his squad from an
unwieldy 33 in his post-match press conference, there will be fans of both
teams wanting to see their sides strengthened before the window shuts on
their transfer business for 2017.
The Community Shield might be seen as the traditional season opener for
England's top clubs but with transfer deadline day still almost four weeks
away it is far from the end of the preparations. That much was made obvious
even before the game in the programme notes: "It makes it easier for us to
understand where we want to improve," claimed Wenger.
Conte was even clearer. "We need to improve our squad because we have more
games and need a bigger team to face these competitions," he explained. "The
transfer market is still open, and for sure we are looking hard to improve
the number, and the quality, of players." Arsenal are the first team
celebrating, but the real race is just getting started.