{"id":857601,"date":"2026-08-16T19:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T19:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857601\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T19:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T19:06:14","slug":"arsenals-midfield-depth-signals-ominous-warning-to-title-rivals-and-marescas-city-community-shield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857601\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal\u2019s midfield depth signals ominous warning to title rivals \u2013 and Maresca\u2019s City | Community Shield"},"content":{"rendered":"

If this was a glimpse of the Premier League\u2019s new order then the rest had better watch out. By the time Martin \u00d8degaard sat Gianluigi Donnarumma down to make it 3-0 to the Premier League champions<\/a>, the Arsenal party was in full swing. \u201cCan we play you every week?\u201d their supporters gleefully taunted their counterparts in sky blue.<\/p>\n

Those in red and white who had made the journey to south Wales could barely believe what they were watching, even if winning the Community Shield<\/a> is unlikely to spark the same kind of celebrations that were seen on the streets of north London in May after ending 22 years without being crowned champions. Having been forced to settle for three successive second-place finishes before finally reaching the summit, this time it was Manchester City\u2019s fans who had to face the reality of being humbled by their closest rivals. As Viktor Gy\u00f6keres had put it beforehand: \u201cAgainst City? In a friendly? We want to win.\u201d That much was clear from the very first whistle at the Principality Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was fitting that the first match of the post-Pep Guardiola era should pit two of his former assistants and pretenders to his crown against each other. On this evidence Mikel Arteta\u2019s powerful Arsenal<\/a> squad, which only looks deeper than this time last year after the additions of Bruno Guimar\u00e3es and Christos Tzolis, will head into the new season as clear favourites to defend their title after blowing away Enzo Maresca\u2019s City in the space of just 48 minutes.<\/p>\n

The Italian had barely taken his seat in the dugout for his first meaningful match since replacing Guardiola when his new side found themselves trailing. Myles Lewis-Skelly was a major factor in Arsenal finally getting over the line in May after being brought into the midfield engine room for the run-in when Mart\u00edn Zubimendi had run out of gas. The teenager needed little more than 20 seconds to remind Thomas Tuchel what England were missing this summer with his brilliant pass for Riccardo Calafiori\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n

Lewis-Skelly doesn\u2019t turn 20 until next month but already looks a match physically for most \u2013 including City\u2019s \u00a3116m new signing, Elliot Anderson. Lewis-Skelly\u2019s future has been the subject of speculation this week, with reports that he had been offered to Manchester United and Chelsea. But after dominating Anderson and the veteran Mateo Kovacic in partnership with the outstanding Guimar\u00e3es, Arteta will surely not allow him to depart in the next fortnight.<\/p>\n

As for Guimar\u00e3es, one typically aggressive challenge from the Brazil midfielder to dispossess Phil Foden was all it took for Arsenal\u2019s supporters to fall in love. The chants of \u201cBruno, Bruno\u201d only amplified when he sprayed a crossfield pass perfectly into the path of Noni Madueke and City will have been relieved to see the back of him at half-time.<\/p>\n

Martin \u00d8degaard\u2019s return as an attacking force is yet another reason for Arsenal to feel optimistic. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson\/Offside\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

By then, Kai Havertz had already made it 2-0 after a beautifully crafted goal involving \u00d8degaard and Tzolis, and City were hanging on for dear life. Seeing Declan Rice emerge for the second half was another reminder of Arsenal\u2019s plethora of options, although the wisdom of Bukayo Saka returning so soon after England\u2019s World Cup exploits remains to be seen in the long term. \u201cHe said it\u2019s not done,\u201d sang the Arsenal fans in reference to Rice\u2019s post-match team talk at the Etihad Stadium after they were beaten in March, when he was introduced.<\/p>\n

The re-emergence of \u00d8degaard as an attacking force is yet another reason for Arsenal to feel optimistic. The captain\u2019s campaign was severely hampered by injury last season but, after excelling for Norway at the World Cup, he was at the heart of Arsenal\u2019s best moves and capped an excellent performance with a cool finish to round off the scoring. That was also greeted with chants of \u201cyou\u2019re getting sacked in the morning\u201d directed towards Maresca, who was seen deep in conversation with his players and staff at the full-time whistle.<\/p>\n

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With Rodri expected to depart for Barcelona, recruiting at least one more central midfielder to partner Anderson must be a priority. Lille\u2019s Ayyoub Bouaddi<\/a> would provide youthful energy, although given Arsenal\u2019s strength in that department more experience will be required if they are going to mount a serious title challenge. Chelsea\u2019s Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez may fit the bill.<\/p>\n

There was a brief moment last autumn when Maresca\u2019s former side looked most capable of challenging Arsenal before his squabbles with the hierarchy brought an end to the Italian\u2019s tenure. It will take some time to make his imprint on a squad that was so heavily devoted to Guardiola, although Arteta said this week that he believes his newest rival has \u201cthe personality, the character and, especially, the knowledge\u201d to be successful. For the Arsenal manager, the question is now whether he can build a legacy that could one day rival Guardiola\u2019s. This was a good way to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If this was a glimpse of the Premier League\u2019s new order then the rest had better watch out.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-857601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}