Arsenal played the way fans had been crying out for against Manchester City

Arsenal overcame Manchester City with ease as they won 3-0 in the Community Shield and their performance showed a change in their style of play.

Riccardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard all found the back of the net to help their side to a dominant victory at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, securing their 18th title in the season's traditional curtain raiser.

It was a superb showing from the Gunners and they simply played City off the park in a display that was helped massively by a clear desire to play more attacking football, something fans have been crying out for.

Arsenal played the way fans had been crying out for against Man City

When Arsenal went 1-0 up through Calafiori after just 24 seconds, there was likely a feeling among the entire fanbase that the full 90 minutes would be spent watching Mikel Arteta's side park the bus and soak up pressure from what would be a rampant City attack.

That wasn't the case however as the Gunners looked to continue pressing Enzo Maresca's nervy team and that paid off when Havertz doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark. Ødegaard added the third for his side just after the break when he ended another silky move.

Taking the statistics into consideration, the North Londoners didn't dominate every aspect of play, but their brilliance was still very clear. Arteta's side had 41% of the possession, nine shots and four big chances, creating an xG of 2.19.

The entirety of their expected goals came from open play and was the fourth-highest 100% rate for Arsenal under Arteta and the most since a 4-0 win over PSV in the Champions League almost three years ago.

Sunday's performance was absolutely nothing like the football Arsenal fans have witnessed in the past two seasons. The 2024/25 and 2025/26 campaigns saw the Gunners play very timid football that heavily relied on set pieces for goals and prevented any real threat of falling to counter attacks, priding themselves on their defensive brilliance.

While that proved successful for Arteta and his team last term as they finally won the Premier League, it was not the most exciting style of play to watch and fans were crying out for more attacking and advanced tactics, like in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.

There was a feeling among supporters that Arsenal were playing with the handbrake on to get over the line. Their previous fluid play hadn't won them titles, but the defensive style did. However, now they have won that first title, there seems to be a clear desire to release the handbrake and play attacking football once again.

The first audition of that did pretty well as the Gunners made light work of City, demolishing them in the season's opening game. Christos Tzolis looked brilliant on the left wing while Martin Ødegaard seemed back to his best in midfield.

Arsenal are the heavy favourites to win the league as they look to retain the title for the first time since 1935. However, they have a huge task ahead of them as they look to do something they've not done in over 90 years as well as break a curse that has plagued the winners of the Community Shield for a long time.

If the Gunners continue to play like they did against City though, they will likely be a class above every other side in the Premier League and should find it easy to win their fifth title.

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