The 2023–24 football season is upon us with a mouthwatering encounter between defending Premier League champions Manchester City and last season’s second-placed side Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, August 6.
Usually, the league winners play the FA Cup winners for a shot at the title, but seeing as City dominated England and the whole of Europe last season by winning the treble, the runners-up in the league—in this case, Arsenal—step up to the plate.
The two heavyweights will clash in what will be the curtain-raiser for the new league season as a chance to win the first silverware of the new campaign is up for grabs.
City and Arsenal are not strangers to the biggest of stages, with the two sides set for their third meeting in the Community Shield, where Arsenal have been victorious in the previous two encounters—a 4-0 win at Highbury in 1934 and a 3-0 victory at Wembley Stadium in 2014.
Pep Guardiola’s side come into the tie with all the confidence having defeated the Gunners three times already this year – twice in the league and once in the FA Cup, but in their meetings in recent times at Wembley, Arsenal hold the upper hand with victories in the FA Cup semi-finals in 2017 and 2020.
Mikel Arteta’s side looks revamped, with big-money signings like Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, and Jurrien Timber set for their competition debuts for the Gunners, who are the joint second-most successful winners of the Community Shield with 16 titles, tied with Liverpool and just behind Manchester United on 21.
City, on the other hand, are in search of their seventh Community Shield, but they may be without the duo of midfield magician Kevin De Bruyne and Dutch defender Nathan Ake, who recently signed a contract extension with the Manchester-based side.
The two stars missed City’s pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich in Seoul, South Korea, last week, and their absence from the game tomorrow provides a huge boost for the North Londoners, who will be without Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus after the Brazilian reportedly underwent surgery for a knee injury and will miss the start of the league campaign.
However, the treble winners on Saturday confirmed the signing of Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol for a record fee of €90 million, making him the most expensive defender in the world, and it is yet to be seen if he will be available for the tea-time action on Sunday.
Arsenal and City both boast a wide array of talents, and if their contests from last season are anything to go by, fans are in for a proper showdown that will definitely set the tone for the rest of the season.
