A left-footed strike from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has handed FA Cup winners Arsenal a 1-0 half-time lead over Premier League champions Chelsea in the Community Shield at Wembley this afternoon.
For the Gunners, who have not beaten their West London rivals in their last eight attempts, Oxlade-Chamberlain's goal was their first in this fixture in 506 minutes of action.
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Both sides found goalscoring opportunties hard to carve out during the early exchanges, with neither goalkeeper called into any telling action.
However, that changed in the 23rd minute when Theo Walcott met Mesut Ozil's cross, but the Arsenal striker could only plant his headed effort straight at Thibaut Courtois in the Chelsea goal.
Yet, just 60 seconds later, Courtois could do little to prevent Oxlade-Chamberlain from breaking the deadlock. Ozil and Walcott were both involved in the build up as the ball was played out towards the right side of the penalty area for Oxlade-Chamberlain. From there, the England midfielder cut inside Cesar Azpilicueta, which opened up enough space for him to lash a rising shot into the top left hand corner of the net.
Chelsea's response to having fallen behind was positive as Ramires bent his shot from the edge of the area around advancing Arsenal centre-back Laurent Koscielny in the 32nd minute, although former Chelsea keeper Petr Cech was able to watch the ball flash wide of his left upright.
The Brazilian midfielder was then presented with another opening four minutes later when he stole a march on Arsenal left-back Nacho Monreal, but his downward header from close range skidded wide of the target.
It was Arsenal that ended the half in the ascendancy, though, as Aaron Ramsey slammed a shot from a narrow angle into the side netting, while Chelsea right-back Branislav Ivanovic was forced to head over his own crossbar with Monreal lurking behind him to head in a lofted Oxlade-Chamberlain cross.
Liam Apicella
