Arsenal must overcome another worrying Community Shield trend after Wembley win

08 August 2023 , 05:00

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Arsenal must overcome another worrying Community Shield trend after Wembley win

Arsenal secured Community Shield success at the weekend but winners haven't enjoyed promising seasons recently.

The Gunners bagged a stoppage time equaliser before seeing off Manchester City on penalties to claim the first piece of silverware of the campaign. Mikel Arteta's side finished second last term and have added more than £200m worth of talent, furthering heightening expectations.

Arsenal though, before considering any Premier League title ambitions, will want to simply make the top four. Back in 2020 the north Londoners won the Community Shield but went on to finish eighth as they failed to build on their Wembley success - setting an unwanted run of winners missing out on the top four. A year later it was Leicester who won the season's curtain raiser, but they too finished in eighth.

Last term it was Liverpool who won the Community Shield, seeing off City 3-1. Despite that they went on to start the campaign slowly and could only recover to finish in fifth. Arsenal have only just returned to the Champions League after several years away and will want to make sure it is not a flash in the pan.

Manchester United and Newcastle completed the top four last term and both have added talented individuals. Chelsea and the Reds both underperformed last term but are expected to improve significantly whilst Tottenham too will be in the hunt for the top four, especially if they keep Harry Kane.

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Much was made of the worrying record between Community Shield winners and Premier League champions at the weekend. In the last decade only once has the winner of the curtain raiser gone on to win the top flight, that being Pep Guardiola's City in 2018/19, who won the domestic treble.

Arsenal landed the Community Shield at Wembley

Arsenal have been the most successful Community Shield outfit over the past 10 years, winning it on five occasions. They went back-to-back in 2014 and 2015, but finished third and then second. They won it once again it 2017, beating Chelsea on penalties, but ended up in sixth - their second successive season outside the top four.

Arteta watched his Gunners team win it in 2020, beating Liverpool in a penalty shootout, before embarking on a difficult start to the season, winning just four of their first 14 games, as they ended up in eighth.

The Spaniard said after their Wembley success: "It’s great, that’s why we are here - to win trophies for this football club and make it successful. Just the joy of seeing so many happy and proud people and the connection again doing it for our supporters in Wembley feels very different, and that’s great."

Samuel Meade