On Sunday afternoon, Arsenal defeated Manchester City in the 2023 Community Shield on penalties after pulling off a last-second comeback to square the score.
Arsenal player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Aaron Ramsdale – 6/10 – Early on, tried to go long but felt nervous in control. In the second half, Stones made a good save.
RB: Ben White – 7/10 – Alvarez nearly put City ahead, but a brilliant stop prevented it as he made good progress down the right.
CB: William Saliba – 7/10 – excellently shut down Haaland on one occasion. Throughout, remained composed and cool.
CB: Gabriel Magalhaes – 7/10 – Although occasionally a little careless and receiving a warning, Arsenal’s defenders consistently made clearances.
LB: Jurrien Timber – 8/10 – Despite playing against his forte position, Timber did a good job in dispelling the attacks of the Man City.
CM: Declan Rice – 6/10 – improved in the second half, snatching up loose balls more frequently to put Arsenal in a better position to score.
CM: Thomas Partey – 6/10 – Early booking was somewhat hard. recovered well, but Foden robbed him by pressing too hard before Palmer scored the winning goal.
CM: Martin Odegaard – 6/10 – There were a few beautiful half-turns here and there, but he wasn’t as dominant as he can be.
RW: Bukayo Saka – 6/10 – caused some issues early on and at times appeared to be Arsenal’s brightest spark, but died out as the game came to a close.
ST: Kai Havertz – 5/10 – Despite some good link-up play in the build-up, there were two excellent scoring opportunities in the first half that were again wasted by hurried finishing.
LW: Gabriel Martinelli – 5/10 – Wasn’t given room to charge into from behind, and set piece delivery was incorrect.
Substitutes
Kieran Tierney (76′ for Timber) – 5/10 – Appeared to stumble and was unable to stop Palmer before the goal.
Leandro Trossard (75′ for Martinelli) – 7/10 – Even though the manner it sneaked in was, to put it mildly, fortuitous, managed to produce the opportunity that brought Arsenal level.
Eddie Nketiah (81′ for Rice) – 6/10 – Late addition as Arsenal looked for an equalizer.
Emile Smith Rowe (87′ for Gabriel) – N/A
Fabio Vieira (87′ for Havertz) – N/A