Community Shield Arsenal v Man City: Three stats and bets for Sunday's 2026/27 season curtain-raiser

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And we are back... Almost. The Community Shield is the traditional curtain-raiser for the new season, a sun drenched occasion which seems to nearly always go to penalties, and in 2026/27 sees Premier League champions Arsenal take on FA Cup winners City. The real action returns next weekend with the first matchday of the Premier League season.

Arsenal's job is to show that last season was no one-off. Their Premier League title needs to be the first of many if Arteta is to go down as one of the club's great managers, alongside Arsene Wenger, George Graham et al. Their summer transfer business indicates they have no intention of resting on their laurels.

For City this is the start of a new era after Pep Guardiola's decade in charge came to an end in the summer. Enzo Maresca has succeeded him and has the enormous task of following the most successful manager in City's history.

Maresca proved adept at winning titles in his first season at Chelsea, collecting the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup, which could have been the platform for a winning era, had things not soured the following season. Lifting the Community Shield would be a great way to begin his City reign.

Below are three Opta stats and three related tips, with ways of backing both teams.

Tip#1 - Back Gunners to win on pens

Arsenal's Mikel Arteta won both of his Community Shield matches as a player (2014, 2015), and has won both so far as a manager (2020, 2023), with both managerial victories coming via a penalty shootout.

Tip#2 - Back City to win low-scoring game

The last 10 occasions the Community Shield match has been between the league champions and the FA Cup winners, the FA Cup holders have won eight times. Man City's last two appearances in the Community Shield (2024 and '23) finished 1-1 in normal time.

Tip#3 - Back the score draw in normal time

Both sides have proved difficult to beat recently, with Arsenal unbeaten in their last eight matches in all competitions, winning six and drawing two, and City losing just one of their last 12 games in all competitions (W9 D2). Eight of the last 10 Community Shields, meanwhile, featured goals for both teams - the exceptions being in 2021 and 2018.

Now read Kevin Hatchard's Premier League Golden Boot betting preview