Mikel Arteta has a modern plan and is exhibiting the personality to put it into effect at the Emirates Stadium
It was only the Community Shield. It’s unlikely to be remembered in a month, never mind in a year or five or 10. Sports historians of decades to come will probably not be basing grand theses around some slightly tentative probing between two undercooked teams on a damp and blustery afternoon at Wembley. But it was another success for Mikel Arteta, further evidence that he might be building something exciting at Arsenal.
Nobody at the Emirates Stadium should get carried away. This, fundamentally, does not matter – go on, without checking, what happened in the Community Shield last year? (Manchester City won on penalties, after Joël Matip had cancelled out Raheem Sterling’s opener.) Arsenal have now won it in four of the past seven seasons and nobody would claim this has been a golden era for the club. And it probably matters even less this summer than most given the bizarre compression of the calendar that meant it came only six days after last season’s Champions League final but 14 days before the start of this season’s Premier League.
Related: Aubameyang keeps his cool as Arsenal win Community Shield on penalties
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