Arsenal vs Chelsea, Community Shield: Arsenal beat Chelsea in the Community Shield at Wembley. (Source: Reuters)
In the traditional curtain raiser to activity at the top level in England, the Premier League champions take on the FA Cup winners which in this case is Chelsea vs Arsenal at the Wembley. Despite dominating the first half, Arsenal had nothing to show for it at half time. Victor Moses, against the run of play, gave Chelsea the lead. He struck immediately after the start of the second half. Kolasinac equalised for Arsenal in the 82nd minute after Chelsea were reduced to ten men with Pedro sent off. In the penalties, and first implementation of the ABBA system, Chelsea performed poorly while Arsenal didn’t miss any of their spot kicks to clinch their 15th Community Shield title.
Community Shield, Arsenal vs Chelsea Score and Updates: Arsenal beat Chelsea 4-1 on penalties to win the Community Shield.
2036 hrs IST: ARSENAL BEAT CHELSEA 1-1 (4-1 on penalties) to win their 15th Community Shield.
2035 hrs IST: ARSENAL TO EXTEND LEAD! OXLADE CHAMBERLAIN SCORES. OLIVIER GIROUD SEALS IT FOR ARSENAL!
2034 hrs IST: CECH BLAZES OVER! AND ALVARO MORATA MISSES TOO! Hits the outside of the post and it has gone wide.
2033 hrs IST: WALCOTT STEPS UP AND CONFIDENTLY LEVELS IT. 1-1. MONREAL SECOND FOR ARSENAL. (ABBA SYSTEM). AND CONVERTS. ARSENAL 2-1
2032 hrs IST: PENALTIES! Chelsea will go first in the penalties. Gary Cahill first up and Petr Cech in Arsenal goal. CONVERTS! Into the left corner.
2017 hrs IST: GOAL! Arsenal equalise with Kolasinac goal in the 82nd minute. There won’t be any extra time. However, penalties can be expected.
2005 hrs IST: Morata replaces Batschuayi as Chelsea continue dominating the show.
1937 hrs IST: GOAL! Chelsea take 1-0 lead with Victor Moses scoring a close range goal.
1925 hrs IST: HALF TIME! Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea after the first 45 minutes. The first half has been all Arsenal. They’ve created the lion’s share of chances and tested Courtois enough. Lacazette hit the post to come closest to the opener.
1916 hrs IST: Fantastic move by Arsenal. Get out of a ditch in their own half with neat one-touch passing and there is plenty of space in the middle to make the most of. It comes to Oxlade-Chamberlain and he spreads it to Iwobi who is surrounded by two Chelsea players. Almost loses the ball but comes back to wiggle his way out of it to get a shot. But little venom in it to bother Courtois in goal. Nearing half time now. 0-0
1908 hrs IST: Unfortunate change for Arsenal as Kolasinac comes on to replace Per Mertesacker. An elbow on the veteran defender is enough to stop him from continuing. Kolasinac moves into left side of the back three
1855 hrs IST: POST! LACAZETTE HITS THE UNDERSIDE OF THE POST! The new Arsenal signing tries to curl the ball into the corner of the right hand side of the goal but hits the post in the process. Good passing move by Arsenal inside the Chelsea final third to create the opening
1851 hrs IST: Nearly 20 minutes played at Wembley and Arsenal have looked the better of the two teams. Chelsea making a few inroads but not convincing enough in the final third to bother Petr Cech. Though the stat that matters reads, 0-0
1838 hrs IST: Splendid stuff by Iwobi to dart past an outstretched leg from David Luiz. Makes his way into the box but the cut back is not latched on to by any player in red. The chance goes begging and the ricochet comes off an Arsenal player for a goal kick. Seven minutes played and that was the first decent chance of the match.
1827 hrs IST: KICK OFF! The anthems are done. Followed by a tribute for Grenfell Tower disaster victims by both sets of fans. A minute’s silence as well.
1815 hrs IST: TEAM NEWS: Alvaro Morata starts on the bench for Chelsea. So is Alexis Sanchez who has trained with the squad for only five days. No Mesut Ozil either. On to the teams then:
ARSENAL: Cech, Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal, Elneny, Xhaka, Bellerin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Iwobi, Lacazette
CHELSEA: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso; Willian, Batshuayi, Pedro
1815 hrs IST: Hello and good evening, dear readers. How excited are you to see the return of English football season? (No offence, Championship teams!) What better way than a London derby to get the season underway. Sure one might forget this result by the next week but doesn’t take away the fun of the start, for now, does it?
