Premier League champions Chelsea crumbled in their Community Shield 2017 tie against Arsenal, with the Blues missing four penalties as the Gunners thumped their arch-rivals 4-1 on penalties (1-1 after full-time) to lift their 15th title at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday. 

For a while it seemed Victor Moses, the villain in Chelsea's 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the 2017 FA Cup Final, had set Antonio Conte’s men on the way to their first piece of silverware with his well-taken 46th-minute strike. 

After arguably getting the better of Chelsea in the first-half, Arsenal switched off after the interval and paid the price when the 27-year-old winger nipped ahead of everyone to apply a cool finish past Peter Cech with barely a minute played in the second period. 

In a match devoid of some big names, notably Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Arsenal duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, it was perhaps just that the unassuming Moses would exorcise his demons from his last game at Wembley. 

Arsenal's record-signing Alexandre Lacazette led the line for the Gunners in a 3-4-3 formation, but Alvaro Morata was deemed fit for the bench by his manager, as Antonio Conte opted for Michy Batshuayi instead. 

And the Frenchman was unlucky not to score a goal on his competitive debut, his curling shot in the 22nd minute hitting the post after a fast break. 

The Gunners were dominant for the first half-hour, but slowly Chelsea began to creep into the tie and perhaps Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker’s injury that prompted a defensive shuffle contributed in them conceding the opener. 

After going down, Wenger’s side responded well and kept probing Chelsea’s three-man defensive system and for a long while it looked as if the Blues would withstand the pressure. 

Then, disaster struck in the 80th minute. Pedro, on the verge of being substituted, lunged from behind on Mohamed Elneny and the foul was adjudged to red card-worthy by match referee Robert Madley. 

For the second consecutive meeting, Chelsea would finish a tie a man down and Pedro’s moment of madness came to haunt them immediately afterwards. 

Granit Xhaka, who had stung Thibaut Courtois’ palms with a fierce drive minutes earlier, sent in a free-kick which was met by the head of summer signing Sead Kolasinac with eight minutes left. The unmarked Bosnian, on for Mertesacker in the first-half, didn't make a mistake from inside the six-yard box to make it a competitive debut to remember. 

Alvaro Morata, a 74th-minute introduction, had a great chance to nick the win but his header flashed wide of Cech’s post in injury time and Theo Walcott on the other end came close to scoring as well, but his shot was blocked by a desperate Chelsea defence. 

Full-time came with the teams deadlocked and with the FA trialling a new penalty-shootout method (the ABBA system), it was anyone’s title, but with Morata and Courtois missing back-to-back spot-kicks, Arsenal had a solid advantage. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud dispatched their efforts nervelessly to clinch the first trophy of the English football season. 

While the ABBA system was certainly controversial, there was no denying that Chelsea were sorely missing the combative presence of wantaway striker Diego Costa and the longer Morata takes to find his feet in London, the deeper the quagmire for the Premier League champions.

Add to the fact that Courtois, a goalkeeper, was selected ahead of his outfield teammates to take a spot-kick will be another point that Chelsea manager Conte will be harried about in the coming days. 

Arsenal begin the Premier League campaign with a home game against Leicester City on Friday with renewed confidence and with Sanchez and Ozil both expected to feature, the Gunners are looking good at the moment.

For Chelsea, however, Sunday’s result puts added pressure on the Premier League champions and they will be required to make a statement when they begin their title defence in a home fixture against Burnley on Saturday.