With Manchester City snapping up both Premier League and the FA Cup last season, Arsenal, as last season’s runners-up, make the short hop across London to Wembley to contest this year’s Community Shield
Not since 2020 have the Gunners found themselves lining up in the annual season curtain-raiser, where they managed to edge past Premier League winners Liverpool on penalties.
That edition was also the last time Manchester City failed to feature, although the subsequent two years have seen them fall to defeat against Leicester in 2021, and latterly Liverpool last year.
They will, of course, take comfort in the fact they have Arsenal in a chokehold if recent history is anything to go by. Not since December 2015 have the Gunners found a way past City in the league, while last season’s treble winners have won all but one of the past 16 meetings in all competitions.
The ferocity of Arsenal’s business in the transfer window suggests their surprise title challenge last year was no coincidence, and this pre-season affair represents an early chance for both teams to size each other up before the new campaign.
Wembley Stadium hosts the traditional Premier League curtain-raiser on Sunday afternoon, as Arsenal and Manchester City renew hostilities with the Community Shield on the line.
The Citizens enter the showdown on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid in their most recent friendly, while their North London counterparts retained the Emirates Cup by beating Monaco.
As Pep Guardiola’s treble winners revelled in their unrestrained celebrations earlier in the summer, Arsenal were able to quietly cheer the consolation prize of a place in the Community Shield courtesy of their second-placed finish in the 2022-23 Premier League campaign.
While a late capitulation saw Arsenal set a new record of 248 days at the summit without etching their name onto the trophy, the Gunners’ league campaign exceeded all expectations placed before them at the start of the campaign, and Mikel Arteta’s side could still be rewarded for their efforts with a slice of silverware on Sunday.
Arsenal have already added one more honour to their cabinet this summer, defending the friendly Emirates Cup crown on Wednesday courtesy of a penalty-shootout win over Ligue 1 powerhouses Monaco, who held the Gunners to a 1-1 draw before Aaron Ramsdale kept out Takumi Minamino’s 12-yard attempt.
Also putting five goals past Barcelona and the MLS All-Stars either side of a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United – Arsenal now seek a 17th Community Shield title, which would take them past Liverpool into outright second place behind Man United’s 21.
In recent years, Arsenal have developed a penchant for England’s version of the Super Cup, winning each of their last four Community Shield matches – most recently seeing off Liverpool on penalties in 2020 and only two of their last 10 such games have ended in defeat.
Arsenal’s love affair with the Community Shield is therefore well-documented, but Arteta will be under no illusions that his charges will possess the underdog tag against Man City, even if the Sky Blues’ preparations for the new term leave something to be desired.
On the back of their terrific trio of trophies in a historic 2022-23 season, Man City embarked on a tour of Japan and South Korea, opening with an eight-goal win over Yokohama F. Marinos despite being breached three times on the day.
Guardiola’s reunion with old employers Bayern Munich was also a joyous affair for the Catalonian, who masterminded a 2-1 win in Tokyo, but just four days later, his side came unstuck against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in South Korea at the end of July.
Man City however have had ample time to reflect on that beating as they go in search of a seventh Community Shield title, but they have lost the last two editions of the Super Cup clash to Leicester City and Liverpool respectively.
Arsenal’s 2015 Community Shield success saw Arsene Wenger’s side thump the Manuel Pellegrini-led Man City 3-0, but Gooners will need no reminding of how their beloved team has fared in more recent clashes with the European champions, who have beaten Arteta’s men eight times in a row since the 2019-20 FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley.
