Overview
Arsenal and Manchester City will face off in the Community Shield match for the 2026-2027 season.
This encounter brings many new features compared to previous encounters between the two teams. The most notable is the change on Man City's coaching bench when Enzo Maresca replaced Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola ended his reign at Man City with a FA Cup and Carabao Cup double, although he could not compete for the Premier League title with Arsenal. His team still finished the 2025-2026 season quite impressively with only 1 loss in the last 12 matches in all competitions, winning 9 and drawing 2 matches.
Maresca is therefore facing a not small task in the first match. One of his notable decisions will be to choose Erling Haaland, who has not played for Man City in the pre-season period after returning from North America with the Norwegian national team.
On the opposite side, Arsenal is having good results at the Community Shield. Mikel Arteta has won the title twice when he was a player in 2014 and 2015, and continued to win both times leading Arsenal in 2020 and 2023. Both recent victories were decided on penalties.
The Gunners" also have an 8-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, including 6 wins and 2 draws. This is a significant improvement compared to the previous period, when they lost 4 out of 6 matches. Notably, two of these defeats came against Man City under Guardiola.
Last season's success helped Arsenal be considered the brightest candidate for the 2026-2027 Premier League title, while Man City is right behind. Arteta's team has also strengthened with Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Piero Hincapie, who were bought outright after playing on loan.
Arsenal currently has 17 Community Shield titles, only behind Manchester United. The "Gunners" have also won the last 5 times participating in this title match and won all 3 times participating as the reigning Premier League champions in 1998, 2002 and 2004.
Man City also won the Community Shield, most recently in 2024 when they defeated Man United in a penalty shootout. However, they have been second-placed 9 times in league history, only behind Man United with 10 times.
Head-to-head record
Head-to-head history at the Community Shield is leaning towards Arsenal. The "Gunners" have won all 3 matches against Man City in the English Super Cup, with scores of 4-0 in 1934, 3-0 in 2014 and 4-1 in the penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in 2023.
Notably, in the 10 times the Community Shield witnessed a confrontation between the FA Cup champion and the Premier League champion, the FA Cup champion won 8 times. Both exceptions belonged to Man City when they defeated Chelsea in 2018 and Man United in 2024.
Man City defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the Premier League in April and won 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final in March. Nico O'Reilly scored a double in the final, before Erling Haaland scored the decisive goal to help Man City win the match at the Etihad.
Score prediction: Arsenal 1-2 Man City
The match between Arsenal and Man City takes place at 9:00 p.m. on August 16 (Vietnam time).
