Story highlights
- Arsenal wins FA Community Shield at Wembley
- Beats EPL champions Manchester City 3-0
- Cazorla, Ramsey and Giroud score goals
- Arsenal new signing Alexis Sanchez started
Arsenal claimed the first trophy of the 2014-15 English season Sunday with an emphatic 3-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Community Shield at Wembley.
The traditional match is between the English Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners of the previous season and comes a week before the start of the regular league season.
FA Cup winners Arsenal were two-up by halftime as midfielders Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey scored fine goals.
The introduction of David Silva to an understrength City team gave them a glimmer of hope after the break, but substitute Oliver Giroud sealed the victory with a curling effort on the hour mark.
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Victory will be a morale boost for Arsene Wenger's men, who start their EPL campaign at home to Crystal Palace, while City begins its title defense at Newcastle.
Wenger was also able to give starts to keynote signing Alexis Sanchez, formerly of Barcelona and other new boys Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy.
One man moving in the opposite direction to Sanchez is Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen, whose move to Barcelona was confirmed Sunday as he was unveiled at the Nou Camp.
Vermaelen's old team was winning the Community Shield, formerly the Charity Shield, for the 13th time and the first since 2004.
Wenger said that his squad had been improved by recent signings. "I would say overall it was a united team performance and it was a first half of quality, togetherness and good movement," he told gathered reporters.
"It's very difficult to compare (with past squads) but yeah, in the last two I've been speaking about big transfers. In the years before that we always lost big transfers so (the current policy) has now strengthened the squad."
He will be hoping that last season's Community Shield is not a precedent.
It turned out to be David Moyes' only honor as Manchester United manager after Robin van Persie scored two goals in the 2-0 defeat of Wigan.
United went on to finish seventh in the EPL and Moyes was sacked before the end of the season, to be replaced by Louis van Gaal.
