The Community Shield returns to Wembley on Sunday having taken place at Leicester last year and we take a look at the traditional season opener featuring Manchester City and Arsenal from a betting angle.
The FA Community Shield pits the winners of the English Premier League against the FA Cup Champions. However, if the FA Cup winners also won the League then the runners-up in the League fill that spot and that is the case in this match with Manchester City having done the double last season.
MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City have won 6 Community Shield Titles with their last victory coming back in 2019. Their opponents in 2019 were Liverpool and City eventually won 5-4 on penalties after the match finished 1-1. The year before that they had beaten Chelsea 2-0. City have lost the last 2 editions of the Community Shield going down 1-0 to Leicester in 2021 and 3-1 to Liverpool last year.
Not much should be read into recent friendly results, but Manchester City did beat Bayern Munich before losing to Atletico Madrid both games taking place in the last week in July.
ARSENAL
Arsenal have won 16 Community Shields including one which was shared and they are 5 behind Manchester United who have won 21. Arsenal’s last Community Shield came in 2020 when they beat Liverpool on penalties after the match finished 1-1. Arsenal have won their last 4 Community Shield Finals.
Arsenal have played a number of friendlies in the build up to the English season. Last time out beating Monaco 2-1 on penalties and prior to that they beat Barcelona 5-3.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
City did the double over Arsenal last season winning 4-1 at home in the League and 3-1 on the road. They also met in the FA Cup last season with Manchester City beating Arsenal 1-0 at home. Manchester City have now won their last 8 matches against Arsenal in all competitions.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Manchester City 8/10
Draw 3/1
Arsenal 16/5
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Last year’s Liverpool v Manchester City game served up 4 goals, the first time in 5 matches that over 2.5 goal backers would have collected profits. Over 2.5 goals is trading as a 4/6 favourite with unders at 12/10, but I am going to stick to the match result for an interest here.
Manchester City have clearly held an edge over Arsenal in recent years, but looking at the Community Shield results I get the feeling that Arsenal take this opportunity to win early silverware a bit more seriously than Manchester City. I am going to back the Gunners to give their supporters hope for a big season with a win inside the 90.
Suggested Bet: Arsenal Win at 16/5
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
