Football: FA Community Shield - Arsenal v Man United

The FA Charity Shield clash was once a keenly-awaited occasion in the football year, an irrefutable sign that the new season was about to start.

Now it has probably escaped the attention of more than a few hundred million fans that the annual dust-up between the reigning English champions and the FA Cup winners, the curtain-raiser to a new campaign, actually takes place THIS Sunday. Already ? Where did summer and Test cricket go ?

Of course, we no longer call it the Charity Shield. Like almost everything else in fashionable football it has had a make-over and is now officially the FA COMMUNITY Shield.

The word 'charity', apparently, is no longer politically appropriate - although the purpose of the exercise is still to raise money for many worthy causes.

Pre-match: The big news for Arsenal is that Patrick Vieira misses Arsenal's FA Community Shield clash but Thierry Henry starts in attack with Dennis Bergkamp. Jens Lehmann keeps goal for the Gunners, while Gilberto Silva and Jose Antonio Reyes are also included. Wes Brown and Louis Saha both miss out for Manchester United, who go with Alan Smith and Paul Scholes up front. Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Eric Djemba-Djemba and David Bellion all start for the Red Devils, who have Tim Howard between the sticks.

Half Time

It remains all square after an open first 45 minutes, with Arsenal starting brightly and the best chance falling to Bergkamp. But United have come into the game and created openings for Smith and Scholes.

Brazilian Gilberto Silva opened the scoring in the Community Shield and although Alan Smith pulled Manchester United level, Arsenal now lead 3-1 at the Millennium Stadium.

Jose Antonio Reyes produced a performance to savour at the Millennium Stadium as Premiership champions Arsenal added the Community Shield to their trophy collection with a 3-1 victory over Manchester United.



Reyes' extreme pace completely unhinged a United defence that got more ragged as the game went on.

The Spaniard set up Gilberto Silva's opener and scored the second himself after Alan Smith had levelled with a brilliant 20-yard volley.

There was more than a touch of luck about the Gunners' third as Mikael Silvestre deflected Ashley Cole's wayward cross into his own net, but, given Arsenal's overall superiority, the margin of victory was a fair one.

Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Cygan, Cole, Pennant, Gilberto, Fabregas (Svard 87), Reyes (Hoyte 80), Bergkamp (Aliadiere 61, (Clichy 69)), Henry (Van Persie 45).

Subs Not Used: Senderos, Almunia.

Bookings: Cole.

Man Utd: Howard, Gary Neville, O'Shea (Spector 82), Silvestre, Fortune (Phil Neville 51), Bellion, Keane (Fletcher 51), Djemba-Djemba, Giggs (Forlan 51), Scholes (Richardson 74), Smith (Eagles 73).

Subs Not Used: Carroll.

Bookings: Phil Neville, Djemba-Djemba.

Attendance: 63,317

Referee: M Dean (Wirral).

Forlan would do good if he left ManU. If Forlan doesn't want to go down with the ship it would be best if he transferred out of ManU. He is nothing but a string puppet for Alex Ferguson to play with.