The Millenium Stadium, Cardiff is the venue for Sunday’s Community Shield as Arenal take on Manchester City in the curtain raiser to the new English Premier League season.
Arsenal
Arsenal won the EPL title last season, eventually finishing 7 points clear of Manchester City. The Gunners were in the mix for all of 4 trophies last season but eventually had to be content with the league title. They lost the UCL Final to PSG on spot kicks and were also beaten by Man City in EFL Cup Final whilst their FA Cup run ended with a quarter final defeat at Southampton.
Major Transfers In: Bruno Guimaraes - Newcastle, £75m, Christos Tzolis - Club Brugge, £34m
Major Transfers Out - Jakub Kiwior - Porto, £19m, Leandro Trossard - Besiktas, £17m, Christian Norgaard - Everton, £7m
On the injury front Jurrien Timber continues his recovery from a long term injury that kept him out of the World Cup Finals.
Pre-season Results
1 August: Girona 1-4 Arsenal (Estadi Montilivi, Girona)
5 August: Arsenal 1-3 Real Betis (Aviva Stadium, Dublin,)
9 August: Arsenal 2-3 Borussia Dortmund (Emirates Stadium, London)
12 August: Arsenal 1-1 Como - Arsenal win 4-3 on penalties (Emirates Stadium, London)
Arsenal host Coventry City in the first match of the EPL season on Friday 21st August and they can be backked at 6/4 (favourites) to retain the title
Man City
City were still in the title race until the final two rounds of matches last season. As runner s up they were still 7 points clear of third placed Manchester United and they also banked the League Cup and FA Cup trophies. The big dispappointment came in the UCL where they lost 5-1 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the Round of 16. City turned to Enzo Maresca after Pep Guardiola left the club at the end of the season.
Major Transfers In: Elliot Anderson - Nottingham Forest, £116m, Jeremy Monga - Leicester City, £10m
Major Transfers Out - James Trafford - Leeds, £40m, Nathan Ake - Fenerbahce, £8.5m, Manuel Akanji - Inter Milan, undisclosed, John Stones - Inter Milan, free, Bernardo Silva - Real Madrid, free
Pre-season Results
1 August: Manchester City 1-1 (1-3 pens) Inter Milan (Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong)
5 August: Manchester City 3-1 K-League All-Stars (Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul)
9 August: Manchester City 3-1 Atletico Madrid (Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul)
City will open their EPL campaign at home to Borunemouth on Sunday 23rd August and they are 3/1 second favourites to win the title.
Recent Head To Head
Last season’s two EPL meetings saw the teams draw 1-1 in London and City were 2-1 winners in Manchester. City also beat Arsenal 2-0 in the EFL Cup Final at Wembley.
The Betting
Regulation time betting has Arsenal tading at 6/4 to the game with the draw at 5/2 and City can backed at 17/10
A game of 3 goals or more in total is priced at 0.82/1 and it’s 13/20 for both teams to score
Price boosts from Sportingbet include Arsenal to wn and both teams o score at 4/1 and Haaland is 33/20 to register 2 or more shots on target.
The Verdict
The real business starts next weekend but both coaches were talking up the importance of the game in their pressers. Personally I don’t like to get too involved in this type of fixture but for what it’s worth a small play on a 1-1 draw will satisfy my interest.
Bets: Correct Score 1-1 at 21/4 with Sportingbet
Prices are subject to change