Manchester City to take on 16-time winners Arsenal

The iconic Wembley Stadium in London will become the witness to a high-profile, much-anticipated FA Community Shield match between Manchester City and Arsenal on Sunday.

The match will take place at 8:30 PM IST.

The Community Shield is a one-off match every year that serves as an opener to the domestic England football season calendar. It is contested between the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup in the previous season.

Since the Pep Guardiola's City won both competitions last year, they will be facing the 2022-23 Premier League runners-up Arsenal in the 101st edition of Community Shield.

Last season, City beat long-time table toppers in the final stages of the Premier League to win the title and then later defeated arch-rivals Manchester United in the final of the FA Cup competition. Later, they completed the historic treble by beating Inter Milan to clinch their maiden UEFA Champions League title.

Manchester City has secured the Community Shield six times, in years 1937, 1968, 1972, 2012, 2018 and 2019.

The Sky Blues will be facing the Gunners after registering two back-to-back Community Shield losses, one to Liverpool in 2022 by 3-1 and the other by 1-0 to Leicester City in 2021.

Arsenal has clinched the Community Shield 16 times and is tied with Liverpool as the second-most successful team in the event's history. Manchester United has 21 Community Shield titles, most by any team.

The Gunners had last won the Community Shield by beating Liverpool 5-4 on penalties in 2020.

The last game between City and Arsenal saw the latter register a 4-1 loss away from home at the Etihad Stadium. This season, Arsenal has received a boost in the form of midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham United. City have signed Croatian Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea to make their midfield better.

This year, the Community Shield will return to Wembley. The 2022 edition was held at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium due to the Women’s Euros competition.