Arsenal Defeat Chelsea To Win Community Shield For 15th Time

Arsenal collected the 2017 Community Shield after beating Chelsea 4-1 in a penalty shootout on Sunday that used an experimental format mixing up the order of the spotkicks.

Arsenal Defeat Chelsea To Win Community Shield For 15th Time

After the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, Olivier Giroud scored the winning penalty. The striker ensured the FA Cup holders opened the season just as they finished the last campaign – by beating the Premier League champions to secure silverware at Wembley Stadium.

It was a meeting at English soccer’s national stadium in March that saw soccer’s lawmakers agree to test out a new pattern that would see the order mixed up between teams A and B to ABBAABBAAB.

Chelsea had led during the game, with Victor Moses scoring inside a minute of the second half.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Arsenal team celebrate with the trophy following the The FA Community Shield final between Chelsea and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on August 6, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

But Arsenal leveled immediately after gaining a man advantage. Pedro Rodriguez, wearing a mask after being injured on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Asia, was dismissed in the 80th minute for a studs-up sliding challenge on Mohamed Elneny.

It proved even costlier when the resulting free kick by Granit Xhaka was headed in by new defensive recruit Sead Kolasinac.