The pre-season showpiece that is the Community Shield takes place on Sunday 10th August at Wembley where FA Cup winners Arsenal will take on Premier League champions Manchester City. While the match isn’t held in the highest esteem by fans or players, it will give us all a nice appetiser ahead of the start of the Premier League season on 16th August and might give some early indications as to whether either of these sides will start the campaign in style.
Manuel Pellegrini’s City won the title last season by a margin of just two points from Liverpool, with Arsenal finishing a further five points adrift in fourth spot. When the Gunners visited the Etihad in mid-December they were on the wrong end of a 6-3 drubbing in one of the most entertaining games of the season, but when City visited north London Wenger’s men were altogether more solid and battled out a 1-1 draw.
Arsenal fans will be eager to see how new signing Alexis Sanchez fares in this one. He made his debut for the Gunners in the Emirates Cup last weekend, and though he was largely on the periphery in his side’s 1-0 loss to Monaco on Sunday, he showed glimpses of brilliance on Saturday when Arsenal beat Benfica 5-1. Young Arsenal striker Yaya Sanogo scored four goals in that match, with Costa Rica striker – and one of the bright sparks of the Brazil World Cup – Joel Campbell getting the other.
At City, meanwhile, all eyes were on a different Yaya earlier in the close season as their star midfielder Yaya Toure showed signs that he was somewhat unsettled. He has since pledged his future to the club, however, while the Citizens have also signed former Chelsea man Frank Lampard on a six-month loan deal from their feeder club New York City, a deal Arsene Wenger seems somewhat perplexed with.
So as the sides clash on Sunday, what kind of match do we envisage? Well we think it will be more tactical and tentative than expressive and explosive as players try to ensure they make it through the game unscathed. Having said that, the last two occasions on which City have contested the Community Shield, it has ended 3-2; in 2011 they went down by that scoreline to near neighbours United, while they beat Chelsea by the same in margin 2012.
The bookies price City as the favourites with Coral offering the best odds of 5/4, while Arsenal are out at 23/10 with Bet365 and the draw is a tempting 5/2 with BetVictor . We think Arsenal’s priority will be to show they can keep things tight after suffering some big defeats against the best teams in the land last term, so we won’t be backing a hatful of goals and we could even see it going all the way to penalties.
Arsenal v Manchester City Betting Tips
- Draw – As mentioned above, when the sides last met it finished all-square and given neither side will want to expend too much energy in this one we think a rather slow-paced affair is on the cards that will end either 1-1 or even 0-0 after 90 minutes. As such the 5/2 on offer with BetVictor for the draw looks worth grabbing.
- Under 2.5 goals – For all the attacking talent available to both managers, both sides – on their day – are very capable of snuffing out the opposition. While an early goal or a fast-paced start might scupper this bet, we have the feeling this will be something of a disappointment for neutrals… unless you backed under 2.5 goals at 43/40 with Bet365, that is!
- Arsenal to lift the trophy – In a match we could see going to extra time and perhaps even penalties the value bet has to be to back Wenger’s men to lift the trophy at nice odds of 6/5 with Ladbrokes. After they put their silverware drought to bed by lifting the FA Cup against Hull in May we fancy the players have the belief and hunger to edge this one by whatever means.
- Alexis Sanchez to score last – Sanchez, a £35m signing from Barcelona, is a class act and we fancy he could be the hero for Arsenal here; odds of 13/2 with Sky Bet for the Chilean to get the last goal of the game look worth a punt.