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The doubt for anyone when a long-strived-for goal has been achieved is hunger. Arsenal waited 22 years for their 14th league title and, compounding the yearning, finished second three times in a row before finally lifting the Premier League trophy in May. The physical exertions of last season were immense – as seen by Declan Rice’s clear exhaustion and Bukayo Saka’s intermittent contributions at the World Cup, where William Saliba picked up a back injury – but so too was the emotional strain.
The first weeks of a new season after a major tournament, especially the World Cup, are often a little erratic anyway, but this feels like a particularly unpredictable start to a campaign. Nine of the 20 Premier League clubs have changed manager this summer. For the first time in 40 years, none of the five big managerial beasts of the Premier League era – Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger, José Mourinho, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola – will be in charge of a club. There are unknowns and uncertainty everywhere, even at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta may be the longest-serving manager in the league but there are questions even there; it would be no great surprise if Arsenal were to start slowly.
Manchester City are at the other end of the scale, after two seasons that were disappointing by their extremely elevated recent standards, and with a new manager after a decade under Guardiola. Enzo Maresca may look like his predecessor and his football may look like a version of his predecessor’s – notably from that period when he was his assistant manager – but he arrives at City surrounded by questions. He led Leicester to promotion and won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup with Chelsea, but fans of those clubs seemed unconvinced by the style of play. And while Chelsea clearly had problems with the balance of their squad, and got dramatically worse after he left, it wasn’t entirely clear he was making the best of the resources he had.
The Community Shield is a first opportunity to make some kind of assessment of whether Arsenal’s hunger is as sharp as it was last season, and of how City’s squad are adapting to their new manager. It is, though, a largely ceremonial occasion, any lessons drawn to be taken with extreme caution. Not since 2018 have the winners of the Community Shield gone on to win the Premier League; in that sense, it’s a sort of anti-bellwether. Where it can give indicators as to the season ahead tends to be less in showcasing the strengths of a potential champion than in exposing the flaws that might bring a side low.
This year is unlikely to bring a repeat of 1974, when the scrap between Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner exposed both the Liverpool forward’s unease at the retirement of Bill Shankly and, more consequentially, the general loss of morale at Leeds after Brian Clough had succeeded Don Revie. Often the significance of the Community Shield is properly recognised only in retrospect. José Mourinho was clearly in a strange mood when he turned up for the 2015-16 game unshaven and in tracksuit bottoms and a baggy T-shirt before suffering his first ever defeat to Arsène Wenger. Few suspected, though, the chaos that was about to unspool at Chelsea, culminating with Mourinho’s dismissal that December.
Last season, as Crystal Palace beat Liverpool on penalties after a 2-2 draw, there were abundant indications of what was to come, especially about Arne Slot’s side. Mohamed Salah seemed disconnected from the rest of the forward line. The defence was a mess. Twice they conceded equalisers. Whether they were recognised at the time is another matter; the difficulty is separating teething problems or a team being only partway through their preparation for the new season from longer-term issues that could still be undermining a team two or three months into the season.
There are few obvious questions to which Sunday’s meeting could begin to offer answers. Bruno Guimarães came off the bench for Arsenal in Wednesday’s friendly against Como and could be involved, probably alongside Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield. The 19-year-old has been prominent in pre-season after Declan Rice, Martín Zubimendi and Martin Ødegaard were given extended breaks after the World Cup, but he has been linked with a move. In that context, his celebration after scoring against Como, making a heart sign with his hands and tapping the badge, felt significant.
After the sale of Leandro Trossard, the left side of Arsenal’s attack is in need of strengthening. Morgan Rogers went to Chelsea and Vinícius Júnior stayed at Real Madrid, but they did sign the 24-year-old Greece international Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge. Sunday offers an opportunity to see how he fits in, and whether Arsenal still need another option on that flank.
For City, the biggest personnel issue probably surrounds the future of Rodri, whose proposed move to Barcelona is yet to materialise, which in turn leaves City hanging on a potential replacement. Enzo Fernández appears the preferred candidate but whether his comparative lack of physicality can be accommodated deep in midfield, even after the signing of the robust Elliot Anderson, remains to be seen.
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Tijjani Reijnders started friendlies against Inter and Atlético but is on his way to Al-Qadsiah while Bernardo Silva has joined Real Madrid, meaning a significant overhaul of midfield. Whether that includes Phil Foden in the long term is unclear. Since being named player of the year in 2024, he has struggled for form, but started the Inter and Atlético games. As others recover from the World Cup, the next few weeks offer an opportunity to reassert himself.
Given he started only 11 games over the past two seasons, the departure of John Stones probably matters less from a footballing point of view than in the loss of a dressing-room leader. Without Stones and Silva – and Guardiola – the character of the squad cannot but be different.
Sunday constitutes an opportunity to see both what the new City may look like, and how Arsenal have adapted, having at last won the title. But it’s only the Community Shield; any conclusions should be treated with appropriate caution.
