The Athletic has live coverage of the match Community Shield between Arsenal and Manchester City.
In a parallel universe, Mikel Arteta could be Pep Guardiola’s successor as Manchester City coach this season.
But it is another coach who has worked under the Catalan at City, former Leicester and Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who has been given the daunting task of taking over and continuing the success he has enjoyed at the Etihad Stadium over the past decade under Guardiola.
Is the Italian the right man for the job? We’ll find out this season, and we may get the first hint of what his version of City will look like when they take on Arteta’s Arsenal in the Community Shield today (Sunday) at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
This is the annual summer meeting of the previous season’s Premier League champions (Arsenal, in this case) and FA Cup winners (City) and is considered the traditional curtain-raising ceremony for the new English season.
Is the Community Shield a major trophy? It depends who you ask, but historically this game has been viewed as a friendly match, albeit one with trophies at the end of it – even if it takes a penalty shootout to decide the winner.
Arsenal writer Nnamdi Onyeagwara and City reporter Sam Lee discuss what we can expect from the match.
How was your club’s summer?
Narrator: Arsenal fans have spent the last three months rejoicing (and rightfully so) in the fact that they have finally crossed the line and become Premier League champions once again. People working within the club are trying to strengthen the team to ensure they do not have to wait another 22 years for the next domestic title.
Piero Hincapie’s loan deal from Bayer Leverkusen a year ago has been made permanent, and Illan Meslier has joined on a free transfer after leaving Leeds United. Leandro Trossard moved to Besiktas and was replaced by Christos Tzoulis from Club Brugge. Then there was the blockbuster signing of Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United.
However, the champions were unsuccessful in their pursuit of Morgan Rogers (joined Chelsea) and Vinicius Junior (signed a new contract at Real Madrid). They have also faced difficulties in selling some of their fringe players, with Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Reiss Nelson and Fabio Vieira, among others, still at the club.
All in all, a festive summer in North London, but also a depressing one.
How is Bruno Guimaraes adapting to Arsenal?
JJ Paul
for me: Slow, so far. City have certainly made the club-record signing of Elliot Anderson, and he is expected to make a huge difference, but everything else is up in the air. Rodri could leave, Enzo Fernandes could arrive. Tijani Reynders could leave, and Ayoub Bouwadi could arrive. It is possible that Savinho will leave, and it is possible that another winger will come.
Man City are interested in Enzo Fernandes
Sam Lee
Around 80% of Manchester City’s current first-team squad went on a pre-season tour to Hong Kong and South Korea, meaning Maresca has been able to get his ideas across to most of the players. The rest, including Erling Haaland, Ryan Shirky, Jeremy Doku and the England players, have been progressing rapidly since Wednesday. There is a lot to come.
How important is this match for your club?
Narrator: Over the years, the Charity Shield/Community Shield has been important to Arsenal.
After ending a nine-year FA Cup drought in 2014, they continued the positive vibes that consumed the club that summer with a 3-0 win over City in this match a few months later.
A 1-0 defeat to Chelsea the following August saw Arsene Wenger secure his first win over managerial rival Jose Mourinho at the 14th attempt. The Frenchman later spoke of how he felt “to remove this obstacle out of the way”.
The 2020 win over Liverpool, on penalties after a 1-1 draw, was Arteta’s second trophy in charge, having taken charge in December 2019. Twelve days later, he was promoted from head coach to technical director.
Arsenal’s last Community Shield encounter with City in the summer of 2023 saw new signings Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jorren Timber go against the side who had led them to the title a few months earlier. It was another penalty shootout victory for Arteta and company, providing a psychological boost as they saw off a fierce rival.
As with that match, today will not be seen as a ‘friendly’ match in north London. This is confirmed by Victor Gyukiris’ comments after the friendly match against Borussia Dortmund last weekend.
“(The match) against City? Friendly match?” The Swedish international said. “I don’t know what other people think, but we want to win this match of course; absolutely. When you win titles, you get confidence, you get a boost with everything that comes with it.”
for me: The rivalry with Arsenal has exploded recently, and this will add even more excitement.
City have become so accustomed to playing Community Shield matches and cup finals at Wembley that some wins there can seem routine. But the manner of the Carabao Cup final defeat to Arsenal there in March – with City seen as underdogs – meant it was one of the most memorable of the many trips they have made to this stadium in the last 15 years or so.
Being a Community Shield, it’s inevitably less important to fans than other competitions, and there’s also the idea of the Community Shield curse (only eight of the 34 winners in the Premier League era have won the title that season), so it’s probably one of those fickle competitions: it doesn’t matter if you lose, but it’s very nice to win. But it is not particularly important in either case.
Erling Haaland shows City fans last season’s Carabao Cup (Julian Feeney/Getty Images)
How does your club view competitors today?
Narrator: The athlete I mentioned earlier that in the boardroom, Arsenal and City are not competing. This sentiment is reflected between both sets of fans.
Following Maresca’s departure from Stamford Bridge in January, Arteta said: “I really like Enzo as a person, as a professional. I think he did a great job at Chelsea.”
But contrary to the mutual respect these two seem to share, Arsenal and City supporters don’t get along. Neither in the stands nor on social media.
For example, The ‘glass’ hoax that started during a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium in April. Bukayo Saka even referred to the social media storm caused by those images in interviews following Arsenal’s league title win a month later.
Then there are the short stories: Haaland vs. Gabriel, Miles Lewis Skelly vs. Haaland, how Arsenal beat City to sign Reiss from West Ham three seasons ago, City returned the favor by signing Brazilian defender Vitor Reis in January 2025, Cherkey tampered with the ball and mocked Arsenal fans in the Carabao Cup final, Arsenal fans’ disdain for Rodri over the midfielder’s comments after City won the title in 2024. And the list. It gets longer.
for me: At board level, relations are not particularly warm, and it is fair to say that the story is similar on the pitch. Arsenal’s style of play has never won many admirers at City, both under Guardiola and now with Maresca, and their string of title battles over recent years means that this is perhaps the biggest – as well as the most important – rivalry in English football at the moment.
What starting lineup can we expect?
Narrator: With Saka and Rice having just returned from the post-World Cup break and yet to play a single minute of pre-season games, I don’t expect them to be risked. Other players who returned late after the tournament, such as Martin Odegaard, Gabriel, David Raya and Noni Madueke, took part in the friendlies, so I expect them to be in the starting lineup.
Don’t be surprised if you see emergence from the likes of Ethan Nwaneri, Max Doman and Marlee Salmon, who all played significant minutes in the preseason and impressed when called upon. I also think we will see Arsenal’s first game with Guimaraes in midfield. William Saliba is absent due to a back injury that ended his participation in the World Cup.
Possible XI (4-2-1-3): Banner; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Hincapie; Guimarães, Louis Skelly; Ødegaard; Madueke, Havertz, Zoulis.
for me: City are likely to field some of their stars who belatedly returned to the World Cup, but the majority of the squad in Cardiff is likely to be made up of those who went on a tour to Asia.
Possible XI (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Khosanov, Dias, Guardiol; Kovacic, Anderson; Semenyu, Chirkey, Doku, Haaland.
What is your prediction for the match?
Narrator: Arsenal have won all three Community Shield/Charity Shield matches against Manchester City, but I think that series will end on Sunday. City 2-1 Arsenal.
for me: Arsenal wins on penalties – Did you see the penalty kicks taken by City in the friendly match against Inter in Hong Kong?
Why is this year’s Community Shield being held in Cardiff and not Wembley?
This game is usually played at Wembley but was moved in March due to scheduling conflicts with The Weeknd’s concerts at England’s National Stadium.
The 74,000-capacity Principality Stadium (formerly known as the Millennium Stadium) hosted this match six times between 2001 and 2006 during Wembley’s refurbishment.
How can I watch?
The Community Shield is broadcast live on TNT Sports/HBO Max in the UK. In the United States, the game will be shown live on ESPN. Start is 3pm PT / 10am ET / 7am PT.
