London: Arsenal prepared for the Premier League season by collecting the Community Shield with a 3-0 victory over Manchester City on Sunday, picking up where the team left off at the FA Cup final by adding another piece of silverware at Wembley.
Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, who both scored in the FA Cup triumph that ended Arsenal's nine-year trophy drought in May, also netted against City with well-taken first-half strikes.
A makeshift City were a shadow of the team that won the Premier League for the second time in three years in May. And Olivier Giroud added to City's discomfort by scoring with a dipping strike on the hour in the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season between the Premier League and FA Cup champions.
"We have a great team ethic, we are all together and hopefully we can take that into the season," Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere said. Arsenal open their Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace on Saturday, looking to win the title for the first time in 11 years.
Winning the Shield might set the tone for the opening weeks of the season, but is likely to be forgotten by quickly. For David Moyes, it counted for nothing that his brief and unsuccessful Manchester United reign began by lifting the trophy here a year ago.
Given how City's makeshift team performed in the first half, with just four of the players who started the title-clinching Premier League finale in May, this game clearly ranked low on the priority list.
Perhaps most surprisingly, England goalkeeper Joe Hart was on the bench as new signing Willy Caballero was preferred in goal. But Hart, who was dropped during last season and fought to regain his City place, saw the recruit from Malaga concede three times.
At the first match at Wembley since England's pre-World Cup friendly against Peru in May, the shortage of Englishmen at top clubs was exposed again. With Hart dropped, City's starting lineup lacked a single Englishman while Arsenal had a core of three, including new signing Calum Chambers who was assured in defense.
Arsenal's trio of German World Cup winners - Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski - are still on their post-Brazil break. But the cup winners, with $60 million-forward Alexis Sanchez making his full debut, were in control throughout against a City side that provided little threat.
Just like in the FA Cup final win against Hull, Cazorla scored Arsenal's first goal. Jack Wilshere and Yaya Sanogo combined before the ball broke for Cazorla to strike low into the net in the 2st minute.
Sanogo dragged a shot wide and had a header collected by Caballero before helping ensure that Arsenal's cushion was doubled before half time. Completing a swift break, the French forward held off Dedryck Boyata before passing for Ramsey to neatly stab the ball in the 42nd.
Although City appeared more effective at the start of the second half, with Stevan Jovetic denied by Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, the deficit was extended on the hour when Giroud was given the space to send a dipping strike past Caballero.
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