And so the first trophy of the season has gone to a club who didn't even qualify for it through the correct channels. With Manchester City winning everything in sight last season they couldn't play themselves, and so it was left to the runners up in the league Arsenal to take their place at Wembley Stadium. City had more goal attempts and clear cut chances on goal and with 13 minutes left to play looked to have sealed victory when Cole Palmer converted from who else but an assist from Kevin De Bruyne who had come off the bench. However an earlier clash of heads meant an extended period of time was lobbed on to the 90 minutes and indeed the clock finished up at 103 minutes in the end. On the 101th minute Leandro Trossard equalised though it did take a heavy deflection leaving the goalkeeper stranded and with no chance- Arsenal got the luck.
With no extra time it was penalty kicks and the momentum was certainly with the Gunners who won the shoot-out. It was interesting to see an overjoyed Declan Rice who finished last season being overjoyed in a West Ham shirt as they won the Europa Conference League and now finding instant happiness with his new club. What does this all mean? On one hand the Community Shield is seen as a glorified friendly but these two teams took it seriously and Arsenal celebrated as if they had won a major trophy. In reality if, in a few years, Mikel Arteta does not add trophies with Arsenal he will surely only be remembered for winning one trophy- the FA Cup in 2019. For now he has won officially 3 trophies with the Gunners but with two of them being the Community Shield it is hardly something worth shouting from the rooftops, let's be clear. Still why should anyone deny Arsenal their joy and this win right before the season proper kicks off could be the perfect tonic for the club to push on. They were so close to winning the league last season before a six week end of season implosion ended those dreams. But the club have two worries and that is the expected resurgence of Liverpool and Chelsea who had poor seasons by their standards, throwing two heavyweights into the mix is problematic. For Arsenal though they just need to work hard and take each game as it comes and their opening fixtures look good enough that few of us would be surprised if they were to win their first three games of the season. For City perhaps this is a good omen to lose out once again in this game, after all they have done so in the last two seasons and yet won the league title.
Erling Haaland is of course an incredible player and let's be honest he is currently the best centre forward in the world. Yes a certain Kylian Mbappe will argue his point but Haaland not only scored 36 league goals last season including a total of 52 he also won the treble including the Champions League. Haaland is a goalscoring machine and yet whisper it is the Norwegian going through a poor patch of form? He has scored just 1 goal in his last 7 games. Six of those were competitive and the other one was the Community Shield, which was at least very competitive on the pitch if not officially. Some of those games were huge ones too- both semi final legs in the Champions League against Real Madrid, the Champions League final, the FA Cup final and his last two games in the Premier League. There's no point in going overboard, Haaland is going to be one of the great strikers of his generation and he will be scoring goals soon enough but certainly the player will be asking himself some questions. He lives for goals and he will be well aware that he is due a few of them. For now the media have been silent on his lack of goals, he has plenty of credit in the bank and is young, but 1 goal in 7 for a top level centre forward is a poor return which shouldn't be too worried about for now, but if Haaland was to go his next 2-3 games without scoring you won't be able to navigate the internet without seeing the above story.
Premier League Preview:
The season kicks off this weekend and we will have full betting previews for you to divulge in. For now we have been looking at a basic rundown of Premier League games taking place in the first weekend. The last few weeks have seen us cover games 1-6. Below are games 7-10.
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Newcastle are the new powerhouse and they have already qualified for the Champions League. However there will be pressure on manager Eddie Howe, it is all about improvement on each season. Aston Villa have become a solid unit under Unai Emery, but we don't expect the Magpies to be dropping too many points at home this season.
Newcastle 1.72, Aston Villa 4.00, Draw 3.75
Brentford v Tottenham
To their credit Brentford have actually been excellent since they returned to the Premier League and have really established themselves. We have seen in the past though that after a few seasons it can be hard to maintain that. Tottenham have a new manager but their pre-season has been overshadowed by Harry Kane, will he go or will he stay? Tottenham certainly have enough attacking options to make life hard for the Bees.
Brentford 2.75, Tottenham 2.60, Draw 2.60
Chelsea v Liverpool
A fantastic fixture to kick off the first weekend of the new season. Mauricio Pochettino is back in England as manager of Chelsea and he will have felt that he has been able to sell off a lot of the problematic players that derailed the club last season. Liverpool will be looking to bounce back just like Chelsea from a poor last season but away games are never easy.
Chelsea 2.75, Liverpool 2.50, Draw 3.75
Manchester United v Wolves
The last game of the new season takes place on Monday and Manchester United are looking to have their best and most stable side in a decade. At home in their first game they look like being one of the bankers of the weekend however the bookmakers are thinking along the same lines.
Manchester United 1.30, Wolves 7.00, Draw 5.00
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