Arsenal Retain FA Community Shield after Beating Chelsea

Arsenal retained the FA Community Shield with a 1-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday courtesy of an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain first-half strike.

Oxlade-Chamberlain smashed his powerful shot into the top corner of Thibaut Courtois goal with his weaker left foot to separate both London rivals at the Wembley Stadium.

The Gunners, who also defeated Manchester City to win the Premier League curtain raiser on their way to a successful FA Cup defence last season, have also won the Barclays Asia Trophy and the Emirates Cup, ahead of their opening league clash with West Ham United in eight days’ time.

Eden Hazard could have drawn the west Londoners level in the second half but let fly his shot from close range. Former Blues shot stopper Petr Cech, who was making his Arsenal debut against his former club, parried wide an Oscar free-kick.

Cech also kept out Kurt Zouma’s header, as Arsenal held on to a slim victory to snap Chelsea’s eight-game unbeaten run. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s strike was Arsenal’s first goal against the Premier League champions for 506 minutes- their last dating back to 2007.

The victory also marks Arsene Wenger’s first success against a Chelsea team tutored by the man who in February 2014 dubbed him a “specialist in failure.” The Portuguese tactician had not tasted defeat at the hands of Arsenal in their thirteen previous meetings.

Radamel Falcao had a rather quiet debut for Chelsea after coming on at the break for Loic Remy.