Arsenal appear ‘way ahead’ of Manchester City, says Peter Crouch (That Peter Crouch Podcast) Peter Crouch says Arsenal look ‘way ahead’ of Manchester City and more than ‘ready’ for the season ahead on the basis of their Community Shield performance. Arsenal swept City aside in an utterly dominant display in Cardiff, with Enzo Maresca given a rude awakening in his first official match in the dugout. Riccardo Calafiori fired the Gunners in front inside 24 seconds to ensure City were up against it from minute one and Kai Havertz increased the deficit with a close-range header on the half-hour mark. The Premier League champions flew out of the blocks after the restart and within three minutes they were duly rewarded for their efforts as Martin Odegaard kept his composure to put the contest to bed. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. It proved an unforgettable day for Arsenal’s summer signing from Club Brugge, Christos Tzolis, who provided the assists for both Havertz and Odegaard on his full debut for Mikel Arteta’s side. Myles Lewis-Skelly also shone amid incessant rumours over his future, setting up Calafiori’s opener with an exquisite shimmy and through ball directly into the Italian’s path to get Arsenal up and running. The north Londoners will be looking to carry that same form into Friday night when kick off their Premier League title defence at home to Frank Lampard’s newly promoted Coventry. The Gunners cruised to the club’s 18th Community Shield triumph in Cardiff (Picture: Getty) Calafiori fired Arsenal ahead inside 24 seconds (Picture: Getty) Reflecting on Sunday’s one-sided Community Shield on That Peter Crouch Podcast, Crouch hailed Arsenal as far and away the better team at the Principality Stadium, before picking out Tzolis and Lewis-Skelly for special praise. ‘I think City will improve but Arsenal were ahead of them, way ahead of them. They look so ready,’ the ex-England, Liverpool and Tottenham striker said. ‘Tzolis on the left-hand side there, he looks like a player, Riccardo Calafiori looked good… the calibre of the goals. Arteta’s men kick off the new Premier League season against Coventry (Picture: Getty) ‘Myles Lewis-Skelly, he’s let that ball run and it’s unbelievable. It’s a beautiful pass. If that was Martin Odegaard or someone you’d expect like a Michael Olise… I thought that was a beautiful bit of play. Class! ‘He was flourishing in midfield and you consider they’ve got Bruno Guimaraes in there as well, Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino. ‘F***inghell, that’s an unbelievable squad.’ {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Arteta says Community Shield statement win proves Arsenal are 'ready for it'","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/08\/17\/7779755569864816200\/480x270_MP4_7779755569864816200.mp4","description":"Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal's desire \"to go straight again\" after Manchester City were overwhelmed 3-0 by the Premier League champions in the Community Shield.","duration":"T8M14S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/08\/17\/07\/110678029-0-image-a-8_1786947795231.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-08-17T07:22:17+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); City have been
