Arsenal opened their 2026 to 2027 campaign with a dominant 3 to 0 victory over Manchester City in the Community Shield at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on Sunday.
Riccardo Calafiori gave Arsenal the lead after just 23 seconds before Kai Havertz doubled the advantage in the 28th minute. Captain Martin Odegaard completed the scoring shortly after the restart with a composed individual effort.
The victory gave Arsenal their 18th Community Shield title and their fourth in the past 10 years. It also provided an early boost to the Premier League champions before the start of their title defence. 
Arsenal returned to the Principality Stadium for the first time since 2007. The venue previously hosted three of the club’s FA Cup victories during the first decade of the new millennium.
Arsenal immediately put Manchester City under pressure after kick off. Ben White found Myles Lewis Skelly, who created space with a clever turn before sending a through ball into Calafiori’s path.
The Italian defender finished calmly beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma to score Arsenal’s opening goal of the season for the second consecutive campaign.
The early setback disrupted the plans of new Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca, whose side struggled to settle during the opening stages.
City goalkeeper David Raya was called into action when Phil Foden struck from the edge of the penalty area, but the Arsenal goalkeeper pushed the effort away.
Arsenal continued to create opportunities and doubled their lead through Havertz. Noni Madueke played the ball back to Odegaard, who delivered a cross towards Christos Tzolis at the far post.
Tzolis headed the ball back across the area, where Havertz directed it downwards and past Donnarumma.
The goal was Havertz’s third consecutive start with a goal and marked his first appearance on the scoresheet of the new campaign.
Manchester City attempted to respond before half time. Erling Haaland was denied by Raya from close range, while White produced an important defensive block to prevent Jeremy Doku from converting a cross from Antoine Semenyo.
Arsenal nearly added a third before the break when Donnarumma parried an effort into the path of Odegaard. The captain’s follow up was cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol.
Arsenal extended their lead two minutes into the second half.
Lewis Skelly found Tzolis on the left, and the Greek winger drove towards the penalty area before picking out Odegaard’s run. The Arsenal captain moved past Gvardiol and deceived Donnarumma before rolling the ball into an empty net.
The goal was Odegaard’s first since December after an injury affected his 2025 to 2026 season.
The Norwegian midfielder remained influential in Arsenal’s attacking play and later produced a fine turn to escape Rico Lewis and launch another attack.
Bukayo Saka, introduced during the second half alongside Declan Rice, came close to scoring a fourth when he met a low cross, but his effort went just over the crossbar.
Raya also preserved Arsenal’s clean sheet by producing a sharp save to keep out Semenyo’s low drive.
Manchester City made several substitutions, bringing on Jack Grealish, Omar Marmoush, Marc Guehi, Rico Lewis, Rayan Cherki and Nico Gonzalez. However, the changes did little to alter the outcome as Arsenal remained in control until the final whistle.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s team received strong performances from Odegaard, Tzolis and Lewis Skelly, while summer signing Bruno Guimaraes also made a positive first competitive start for the club.
City’s most active attacking player was Doku, but he was withdrawn at half time after appearing to suffer a calf problem. Haaland had limited service and was largely contained by Arsenal’s defence.
Arsenal will begin their Premier League title defence against newly promoted Coventry City on Friday.
The club will then travel to Aston Villa on Monday, 31 August, before returning to the Emirates Stadium to face Chelsea on Sunday, 6 September.
