SHIELD OF DREAMS

Two trophies in a month ... Arteta looks to be building something special

IT DID not have quite the significance nor the glory of the FA Cup final a mere 28 days earlier. But the storyline remains the same. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang remains centre stage and Mikel Arteta is unbeaten at Wembley.

Pre-match favourites keep being undone by Arteta’s game plan and Aubameyang, apparently always on the brink of signing a new Arsenal contract but never quite there, delivers goals that secure trophies, just as he did against Chelsea here earlier this month.

From Arsenal, a club that has endured huge change and turmoil in the past year, not least over the summer, where staff have been sacked and executives removed, there is defiant optimism. Despite the pay cuts imposed on players and the financial issues caused by lockdown and the lack of Champions League football, they continue to make unlikely progress.

For Liverpool, there was minor disappointment and a sense that it will take a few weeks to be fully up to speed. Jurgen Klopp will however take solace in the fact that last season’s Community Shield against Manchester City followed precisely this pattern. And last season did not end up so badly.

Here Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane did not quite induce the terror that the names on the teamsheet suggested. There was a lack of slickness, though the endeavour was honest and there was a sense of peak fitness coming. And they missed Trent Alexander-Arnold, not just defensively but as a key creative outlet as well.

The winning strike from Aubameyang was in the penalty shoot-out, which came after the 1-1 draw. It was decisive and struck with the authority of a man in the prime of his career, hard and high into the top corner.

It was the fifth of Arsenal’s penalties, Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Cedric Soares and David Luiz having preceded him in a perfect shoot-out.

For Liverpool, Salah and Fabinho were both on target before Rhian Brewster stepped up. He was only brought on late on, presumably to take a penalty. However, his strike, though firmly struck, was high and crashed off the bar. As such, successful strikes from Takumi Minamino and Curtis Jones could not prise back the initiative.

So yet again it was Arsenal taking home silverware against the odds. Once more they eschewed possession and gambled that their pace on the break would secure them a trophy. It was just that which gained them their lead and helped them control the game’s dynamic. Almost inevitably it was Aubameyang who scored it.

The homage to deceased actor Chadwick Boseman was heartfelt, Aubameyang crossing his arms in the Wakanda Forever salute just as Boseman’s Black Panther did in his most-celebrated film.

Yet there was also a tribute to Thierry Henry in that moment. It was the way in which Aubameyang exuded authority the second he received the ball from a glorious crossfield Bukayo Saka pass.

Neco Williams, 19, who had played well going forward and was deputising for Alexander-Arnold, was mere prey in that moment and Aubameyang hunted him down mercilessly, just as Henry once did with defenders. He took the ball, paused and cut inside with a burst of pace, his power easing him past the defender.

Then came the shot, curling yet powerful, beyond the reach of Alisson: pure Thierry. After that was the Wakanda celebration and a broad grin of delight. So much for Arsenal still hinges on their No14 signing his new contract.

There is a slick fluidity and a renewed energy to Arsenal under Arteta. You see it in the born-again Luiz, the revived Granit Xhaka but more than anyone, you see it in Saka and Maitland-Niles.

Saka was involved in everything good down the right. He sensed a weakness in Williams, got in front of him in the 45th minute and delivered a superb low cross which

Eddie Nketiah could not quite connect with. Maitland-Niles is a revelation as a wing-back under Arteta, an energetic blur patrolling the left.

And when Arsenal did falter, they had the might of Emiliano Martinez to rely on, now seemingly established as Arteta’s No1. When Mane was in on goal in the 56th minute, the Argentine made his 6ft 3inch frame look even bigger.

Generally, though, the Arsenal back three, which was often a back five thanks to the energy of Hector Bellerin and Maitland-Niles, were too assiduous to allow such chances.

Liverpool were just not quite the finely-tuned machine we have come to expect. What was familiar was the forward runs and reaching crosses of Andy Robertson and the power in the air of Virgil van Dijk.

In the sixth minute it looked as though that combination had established a lead, when Robertson placed his free-kick on the Dutchman’s head and Van Dijk headed home. He was, however, just offside.

And just before the Aubameyang opener, Williams had delivered a cross of similar quality on to the head of James Milner who, with a free effort, should have done better than direct the ball wide.

It took a change from Klopp to get his side back in the match, Arteta’s game plan giving his famed front three precious little space to run into. So on came Minamino, with Salah moving central and Firmino dropping behind him in what was almost a 4-2-4.

It paid off in the 73rd minute, the sheer number of bodies in the box bamboozling Arsenal. Minamino’s neat touch found Salah, who chested it back to his team-mate, with Arsenal vainly appealing for handball. If anything, Salah’s chest pass came off the arm of Soares and fell into the path of Minamino. He adjusted his body shape and prodded home from close range.

It prompted a Liverpool surge, the best moment coming in the 82nd minute, with Mane in on goal again. And again Martinez rushed out to smother the chance.

Arsenal, once considered the most effete and soft-centred of teams, have discovered a steeliness that belies their image. Build on this and they may yet be a force in the Premier League.