Principality Stadium
2025/2026 Premier League Champions Arsenal meet FA Cup winners, Manchester City in this season's Community Shield, a traditional curtain raiser for the new season and the first opportunity to win a piece of silverware. The venue selected for the footballing showpiece on this occasion is the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, it will be Arsenal's 25th appearance in the Charity/Community Shield, and only Manchester United have featured in this fixture more often on 31 occasions. The Principality Stadium which doubles as Wales national stadium, has a rich history of hosting major football matches and has hosted the FA Community Shield on six occasions between 2001 and 2006. It provides a neutral venue for the competing clubs as well as being one of the largest capacities at 74,500 in the UK for fans to attend.
Arsenal Wins
Of the 25 appearances in the Charity/Community shield, Arsenal's 17 wins are the second highest in the competition's history, four behind Manchester United who have 21. Incidentally, in 1971, when the Gunners won the double, they turned down the opportunity to play in the Shield having previously agreed to play in a few European friendlies. In the years following, a few other teams did the same as Arsenal but that changed in 1974 when the game was given more prestige by moving to Wembley, and the current format was created. Arsenal have faced Manchester City on three occasions in the final, and can boast an impressive 8-1 aggregate scoreline. The Gunners were 4-0 victors in 1934 at Highbury when Birkett, Drake and Bastin all got on the scoresheet, then it's fast forward to 2014/2015 where strikes from Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud saw us beat City 3-0 at Wembley. Our latest appearance in the final and win came in 2023/2024 when Leandro Trossard's late equaliser led to Arsenal winning on penalties.
Starting Eleven
With some of the first team only reporting back for duty in the last week, it could be a slightly different line up to the one which played so consistently last season. William Saliba is still suffering the effects of a back injury and will not be risked for some weeks yet and Jurrien Timber is going to be out for quite a few matches of the new season also. Consequently, and as Timber is Arteta’s preferred right back when healthy, Arsenal may have to bring in cover ahead of their title defence beginning with a Friday night visit from Coventry City on Aug. 21st. Manchester City on the other hand may not yet be at full strength either with Erling Haaland reportedly not back in pre-season training and Rodri looking like he is departing for a different challenge in Barcelona if the clubs can agree a fee. City also have parted ways with Tijjani Reijnders who moves to Saudi Pro League club Al Qadsia.
Como
The last of the summer pre-season friendlies was against Italian side Como on Wednesday night and ended in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal winning the penalty shootout 4/3. Arsenal opened the scoring with a 33rd minute Myles Lewis-Skelly strike only for Baturina to level the game with a precise finish. The Serie A side managed by Ex Gunner, Cesc Fabregras was the final warm up ahead of Sunday's Community Shield and a chance for Arteta to give minutes to some of his more regular starters. Skelly has been in the news a lot this week as the rumour mill sprang into gear amid suggestions he could be transferred out but the teenager made a heart sign to the crowd as he celebrated his goal before patting the club badge on his jersey on his way back to the centre circle. Mikel Arteta was asked about this speculation in his post match press conference and said "He’s a very emotional player, you see with his gestures on the pitch. I’m not going to talk about speculation - if there is speculation about our players, it’s a good sign - that means our players attract attention and are doing a good job".
The friendly saw the return of Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino and David Raya plus more minutes for Gabriel, Hincapie, Gyokeres, Mosquera and Madueke. New signing, Bruno Guimaraes also got a run out in the second half and scored in the penalty shootout to the delight of the home fans. Still no match time for Declan Rice or Bukayo Saka and it looks unlikely that they start on Sunday, possibly Madueke and Guimaraes deputising there. All in all, with a positive record against City in this event, the expectation to deliver the goods again is justifiable although a City team still stinging from Arsenal beating them to the title in May could add a little spice...
