Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2: The lure of fresh signings tempted Londoners to Cardiff, but the true satisfaction for Chelsea fans came as they viewed a familiar face in a new light. Though Didier Drogba has never been persecuted by the Stamford Bridge crowd, he was a man for whom allowances had to be made last season. He came to the club after only 12 days' holiday, he later needed surgery, he seemed spooked by the transformation to his life and bank balance.
As he scored the goals that won the Community Shield, all of that hesitation had evaporated. The Ivory Coast striker had overwhelming strength in his body and absolute clarity of mind. Ask Philippe Senderos. If the Chelsea centre-forward had been absent the defender would have reaped more praise on his return to the Millennium Stadium, where he had been dogged in May as Arsenal won the FA Cup final against Manchester United. The strapping 20-year-old could, for example, have boasted of a couple of tackles on the nimble Arjen Robben.
In reality, however, Senderos will only look back on this game to analyse the areas in which he is yet to improve. Drogba, in the eighth minute, swept past him to take a ball from the new left back Asier Del Horno on his chest and then crack a shot across Jens Lehmann to the far corner of the net. Senderos had not got close enough to ruffle the scorer's technique.
The match was decided after 57 minutes. When the ball ricocheted off the back of Eidur Gudjohnsen, Drogba was ready to storm inside Senderos and hold him off. The attacker then strode across Lehmann and showed yet more power by resisting Lauren and lifting a shot into the net even as he was losing his balance.
While flaunting this sort of speed, vigour, touch, composure and eye for an opening, Drogba's single failing is one for which he bears no responsibility. The £24 million fee Jose Mourinho agreed to pay would be a stigma for virtually any forward, but it might not look quite so incongruous if the player continues to show this decisiveness.
While a game of 11 substitutions must be an unreliable witness, it at least raises the possibility that Chelsea will no longer go on cursing a failure to detach Andriy Shevchenko or Adriano from the Milan clubs.
If Hernan Crespo is in earnest about succeeding at Stamford Bridge, the fierce struggle for the centre forward position will continue to have dreadful consequences for defences everywhere.
"Why not say that Hernan was responsible for Drogba's performance?" crowed Mourinho, who also argued that the scorer was bound to be better in his second season, having adapted to England.
Arsenal will not have sobbed their way home. Out of necessity after the opener, they attacked more than Chelsea, and while they were not so tight-knit a side their worries were relatively slight.
Mathieu Flamini performed gamely enough, but there was more fluency when Gilberto Silva took over from him. In the second half, the Brazilian steadied the midfield and, with him around, a fellow substitute, Alexander Hleb, who has been bought from Stuttgart, could show just how he will undermine defenders in the year ahead.
With the Belarus international and several other substitutes introduced there was more zip to Arsenal's attacks, and Francesc Fabregas scored from Freddie Ljungberg's deflected, low cross after 65 minutes.
The Community Shield may just be a friendly with airs and graces, but the tone was still fairly competitive. To give it the authentic ring there was even a bit of malevolence, with tempers raised when Drogba, charging through after he had been ruled off-side, was caught on the back of his leg by Lauren.
Arsene Wenger also obliged with some post-match waspishness as he observed that Chelsea had depended on the long-ball. The obvious riposte was that Mourinho, as ever, had stuck to whatever approach worked.
There were only a few signs that the Community Shield contest is a flawed guide to the season ahead. Frank Lampard, serial scooper of awards, barely caught the eye at all for Chelsea. In the Arsenal ranks Thierry Henry was just as unobtrusive.
While Mourinho's protracted bid for Lyon's Michael Essien proceeds, there is no stress about his search for additions to the squad. His actual worry will lie in maintaining harmony among such a gathering of outstanding footballers who will all understandably feel that they should start matches.
The 18 names on Mourinho's team sheet yesterday bristled with ability and, for one reason or another, internationals such as Wayne Bridge and Jiri Jarosik did not even feature among them. Del Horno gave a sound account of himself before wearying in the closing half hour, and there was, too, a debut from the bench for Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Mourinho will have been pleased with this warning that there is to be no change in his club's command of English football. Opponents are fools if they believe that the famed jinx on Community Shield winners will be enough to stop Chelsea.
ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren (Hoyte 78), Toure, Senderos (Cygan 72), Cole, Ljungberg (Reyes 72), Fabregas, Flamini (Hleb 45), Pires (Silva 45), Bergkamp (van Persie 45), Henry. Subs not used: Howard. Booked: Fabregas. Goal: Fabregas 65.
CHELSEA: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Del Horno, Makelele, Lampard (Geremi 90), Duff (Joe Cole 74), Robben (Wright-Phillips 69), Drogba (Crespo 59), Gudjohnsen (Tiago 58). Subs not used: Cudicini, Ricardo Carvalho. Booked: Makelele, Lampard. Goals: Drogba 8, 57.
Referee: H Webb (England).
