Arsenal waited to collect the Community Shield at Wembley, Antonio Conte wandered about, arms folded and head down, with the look of a very bemused man.Conte pondered all this and doubtless much more, Arsenal collected the season’s first piece of silverware. Arsene Wenger’s team came from behind to draw and then won the strange penalty competition that followed by four goals to one. It wasn’t the fact that Chelsea lost the shoot-out that really mattered, it was the manner in which they lost it.Conte and his team did care, of course, and you only had to observe Morata afterwards – standing disconsolately with his water bottle – to know that, but Conte’s Chelsea has not always appeared a terribly settled place during the weeks of summer and nothing that happened yesterday changed that.
For a while during the actual game, Chelsea had exerted a semblance of control.
Indeed, had the Spaniard Pedro not been sent off with eight minutes to go they probably would have held on to their lead to win. When things are not quite right at a football club, weird things to happen on the field and that was the case here.Arsenal were the better side early on and looked dangerous. Their own big summer signing, Alexandre Lacazette, was in the team and he almost scored in the 22nd minute, curling a measured right foot shot against the post from 13 yards. Another forward, young Alex Iwobi, was lively, too, and for 25 minutes it was an uncomfortable afternoon for the English champions. Chelsea grew in to the game as the first half wore on and had established themselves as the more assertive team by the time they took the lead in the first minute of the second period.
It was a poor goal for Arsenal to concede as they failed to clear a corner properly but Victor Moses exhibited fine timing and technique to control and score from eight yards. The player sent off in last season’s FA Cup Final will have relished the opportunity to emerge as the match winner here.
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