**Arsenal began the 2026/27 season by demolishing Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield, with several players producing outstanding performances in Cardiff.**
Riccardo Calafiori struck after only 24 seconds before Kai Havertz doubled the advantage and Martin Odegaard added a superb third shortly after half-time. Christos Tzolis created both of Arsenal’s final two goals, while David Raya made several important saves to preserve the clean sheet.
Here are our **Arsenal player ratings vs Man City**.
Excellent when Arsenal needed him. Made an early diving stop from Phil Foden, denied Erling Haaland before half-time and produced another superb reaction save from Antoine Semenyo late on. A clean sheet he genuinely contributed towards rather than simply collected.
Dealt well with Jeremy Doku for long periods and produced a huge six-yard-box block in the first half. Also offered himself intelligently going forward and nearly created Calafiori’s second.
A very encouraging competitive Arsenal performance. City had moments, but Mosquera remained composed alongside Gabriel and helped ensure Saliba’s absence never became the defining issue.
Typical Gabriel. Aggressive when he needed to engage Haaland and particularly strong when Arsenal were protecting their advantage. His intervention after Doku beat White in the first half summed up his performance.
What a start. Needed only **24 seconds** to open the scoring and repeatedly attacked from left-back afterwards. Could even have scored again before half-time. The unnecessary booking for simulation is the only real negative.
Another promising outing from the £75million arrival. Comfortable receiving under pressure and helped Arsenal establish control during a superb first half. Replaced by Declan Rice at the break.
Outstanding.
Created Calafiori’s opener and looked completely at home operating in central midfield against elite opposition. Aggressive, technically secure and constantly involved. The fact he was still dominating duels before being withdrawn after 75 minutes made this an important performance for his Arsenal future.
This looked much more like peak Odegaard.
His delivery helped create Arsenal’s second before he produced the moment of the match himself after half-time, gliding beyond Gvardiol before sitting Donnarumma down and passing into an empty net. Captain’s performance.
A little inconsistent compared with Arsenal’s other attackers but still caused City problems with his direct running. Had one effort held by Donnarumma and showed some clever touches before Saka replaced him.
Led the line extremely well and got his reward with Arsenal’s second goal.
Havertz worked City’s defenders, linked attacks and continually found useful positions. Another reminder that Viktor Gyokeres will have serious competition for the No.9 position.
What a competitive debut.
His clever header across goal created Havertz’s second before his perfectly weighted pass released Odegaard for the third. Tzolis carried a constant threat from the left and looked immediately comfortable in Arteta’s attack. Two assists against Manchester City is some introduction.
Introduced at half-time and Arsenal barely lost any control. Important minutes after his delayed return from the World Cup.
Looked sharp on his return and repeatedly found dangerous positions. Should probably have scored late on when Hincapie picked him out inside the area.
Solid defensively and produced an excellent low cross which Saka fired over.
A comfortable final 15 minutes and useful competitive minutes after his shortened pre-season.
Not enough time to significantly influence proceedings after replacing Havertz, but received valuable minutes before the Premier League opener.
Replaced Odegaard in the closing minutes with the result already secured.
[ReadArsenal highlighted the major selection decisions facing Mikel Arteta before kick-off](https://readarsenal.com/2026/08/16/arsenal-vs-man-city-three-huge-calls-arteta-must-get-right/), but almost every major call paid off.
Most encouragingly, the players with something to prove delivered. Lewis-Skelly strengthened his claim for a major midfield role, Havertz responded to increased competition and Tzolis produced an outstanding first competitive Arsenal performance.
A 3-0 win and another trophy represents about as strong a start to the new season as Arteta could have requested.