Arsenal vs. Manchester City - Community Shield Highlights, Analysis: What We Learned from Gunners' 3-0 Win

Arsenal destroyed Manchester City by a resounding 3-0 score on Sunday to win the Community Shield in the final pre-season game of the year.

Now both sides head into next week ready to start the Premier League campaign. Here are some things we learned from the match:

Arsenal Can Score

The Gunners looked ready to attack from the get-go and dominated the majority of the opening half. The side finished with a whopping 11 shots on goal and seven on target.

Santi Cazorla scored the opening goal off of some slick passing in front of the Manchester box before Aaron Ramsey finished off a nice play that developed off a through ball on the counter from Alexis Sanchez. The final goal, a wonder blast from Olivier Giroud, capped a brilliant effort overall.

Some interesting underlying stats about the game: Manchester actually bossed possession 58-42. Manchester also had the better passing conversion as they succeeded at completing 85 percent of their passes. Arsenal managed a pass completion rate of 79 percent. Arsenal was also beaten on more aerial battles, as Manchester won 54 percent of them. Manchester City also had seven corners, while Arsenal only had three. This would indicated that the Gunners were actually outplayed for long stretches, but they made it count when it mattered most.

Willy Caballero Flops

Entering the match, there was some debate that Caballero's start meant that Joe Hart would struggle to maintain his spot as the number one keeper.

He might have been smiling after the performance from his competitor in this match. Caballero made a nice save on Alexis Sanchez in a one-on-one situation, but he should have done better on each of the first two goals. He was caught a bit out of position on Cazorla's shot at the far post and he definitely misread the pass on the Ramsey goal. His awkward stance as the Welshman fired the ball past him indicated just how poorly place he was to stop it. The third was not his own fault, but the first two might have done enough damage to relegate him to the bench.

Also worthy of note is that City's defense was shambolic on the opening two goals. Why Sanchez's long throughout ball was not cut off is one aching question. But the fact that Yaya Sanogo was able to cut in and then dish off to Ramsey (who dribbled through three defenders) for the second goal was shocking. The Cazorla goal also featured a lot of ball-watching.

Alexis Sanchez not quite settled in

The game went really well for Arsenal fans, but there should be some concern over the play of Alexis Sanchez. The massive transfer was expected to give the team tremendous offensive depth, but it did not always work. Sanchez had 39 touches on the night and did a terrific job running in behind the defense. But his final pass was horrific and his passing success on the night was a woeful 60 percent. And this is from a guy who played with Barcelona, a team where passing was everything.

Calum Chambers is a success

Fortunately, youngster Calum Chambers was terrific in his role as centerback. He succeeded in completing 79 percent of his passes while having six touches. His awareness in front of the goal was solid through and through, and he made no major or discernible mistakes. His partner Laurent Koscielny was not as successful on the night, but Chambers ensured that the Frenchman was not overly exposed. This is huge for an Arsenal side that needs some positives.

Mathieu Debuchy and Kieran Gibbs were also fantastic on the flanks of the team's defense.

by skymediatv1