Manchester City will look to avoid defeat in the Community Shield for a third consecutive year when they square off against Arsenal this weekend. The reigning Premier League champions have lost the last two Shields with defeats to Leicester City and Liverpool respectively, and will be hoping to break that duck when they meet the Gunners.
City have played three pre-season fixtures so far- they beat Yokohama F-Marinos 6-3 in Japan and followed it up with a 2-1 win over Bayern before slumping to a narrow loss to Atletico Madrid in Seoul. The Arsenal fixture is their last one before they start the defence of their title away at Burnley next weekend.
The Citizens have only made one addition to their ranks so far, and that’s midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who was acquired from Chelsea. They’ve let several players leave the Etihad this season- key among them being Ilkay Gundogan (Barca) and Riyad Mahrez (Al-Ahli)
Arsenal come into this game on the back of a penalty shootout win over Monaco in the Emirates Cup. ASM went ahead through Youssouf Fofana’s header in the 31st minute, only for Eddie Nketiah to volley from a corner at the back post on 43 minutes. There were chances for Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard for the Gunners, and another glorious one for Wissam Ben Yedder for Monaco (he hit the post), but the game eventually went to penalty kicks, where the Gunners prevailed 5-4.
Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, whose future at the Emirates looks a bit cloudy with rumours linking the club to David Raya, made the decisive penalty save to deny Takumi Minamino- the only one of the ten spot kick takers to miss his effort.
Like last season, City and Arsenal are again expected to be in a fierce battle for the league title in 23/24, judging by the current pre-season odds on this page. The Gunners have strengthened their squad with the acquisitions of Declan Rice (a British transfer fee record), Kai Havertz from Chelsea and defender Jurrien Timber from Ajax. Influential midfielder Granit Xhaka has however left the club for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Arsenal were in pole position for the title for most of last season before they faded away in the final third and allowed City to go past them. Mikel Arteta will be hoping that his young side would’ve learnt from that experience and would be better for it going into the new campaign.
AFC’s other games in pre-season have seen them score five goals against both the MLS All-Stars and Barcelona and lose 2-0 to bitter rivals Manchester United in New Jersey. They also drew 1-1 with Nuremberg in Germany.
City however appear to have the wood over the Gunners in recent years- they’ve emerged victorious in all of the last eight meetings between the two sides. Pep Guardiola’s side comfortably won 4-1 and 3-1 in the league last season and will be aiming to continue their fine record over the Gunners this weekend.
