2023 FA Community Shield

General

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2023 FA Community Shield

Arsenal Manchester City 1 1
Report Arsenal won 4–1 on penalties
Date	August 6, 2023
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Stuart Attwell (Birmingham)
Attendance	81,145
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The 2023 FA Community Shield was the 101st FA Community Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup competitions. It took place at Wembley Stadium on 6 August 2023. As Manchester City won both the 2022–23 Premier League and the 2022–23 FA Cup, their opponents were the Premier League runners-up, Arsenal. Arsenal won 4–1 on penalties after a 1–1 draw within 90 minutes, meaning Manchester City are the first club to lose three Community Shield matches in a row since Manchester United's four between 1998 and 2002. The match was televised live on ITV1 and ITVX.

The match was initially planned to kick-off at 17:30 BST, however this was met with criticism from Manchester City fans who complained about its possible disruption to travelling to the match. Therefore, The Football Association moved kick-off to 16:00 instead on the same day.

Liverpool were the defending champions as winners of the 2022 FA Community Shield, but they did not qualify for this edition, having failed to win either the Premier League or FA Cup.

Background

Main article:2022–23 Arsenal F.C. season

Main article:2022–23 Manchester City F.C. season

Manchester City obtained their FA Community Shield spot by virtue of winning the 2022–23 Premier League. It will be their 15th appearance (third in a row), with six trophies won.

Due to Manchester City's 2–1 victory over Manchester United in the 2023 FA Cup final, Arsenal, 2022–23 Premier League runners-up, will play against Manchester City. It will mark their 24th appearance, with 16 trophies won.

Preview

Arsenal will be determined to prove they can once again challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title when the two sides meet in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.

The traditional season curtain-raiser sees champions City face runners-up Arsenal.

Usually, the Community Shield features the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup, but Pep Guardiola's side won both last season - as well as the Champions League.

Arsenal led the Premier League table for 248 days in 2022-23, the most for a team who failed to win the title in English top-flight history.

Their challenge fell away as City finished in imperious form while injuries and fatigue took their toll on the Gunners.

Fans will have wanted to see some big moves in the summer transfer window to prove the challenge was not a one-off, and they have certainly done that.

England midfielder Declan Rice is the standout signing for Arsenal, having arrived from West Ham for £100m.

His arrival followed the recruitment of Germany international Kai Havertz from Chelsea in a £65m deal and Netherlands defender Jurrien Timber from Ajax for a fee which could rise to £38.5m.

Manchester City, meanwhile, have made two significant signings so far this summer with Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic arriving from Chelsea for an initial £25m and his international team-mate, defender Josko Gvardiol, joining for £77m from RB Leipzig.

City finished five points clear of Arsenal last term so the need to strengthen was less pressing than it was for the Gunners, although they did lose captain Ilkay Gundogan.

The midfielder played a key role in City's Treble win, scoring 11 goals in 52 games, and although he was offered a new deal at Etihad Stadium, he opted to join Barcelona.

Manchester City embarked on a tour of Japan and South Korea over the summer while Arsenal headed to the United States.

City began with a 5-3 win against Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos, coming back from 2-0 down to win, then beat Bayern Munich 2-1 before losing to Atletico Madrid by the same scoreline.

Prior to heading to the US, Arsenal drew 1-1 with FC Nurnberg in Germany before thrashing an MLS All Stars team 5-0 in Washington.

The Gunners then lost 2-0 to Manchester United but rounded off their US tour with a 5-3 win against Barcelona.

Leandro Trossard top scored for Arsenal in pre-season with three goals, while new signing Havertz hit two. For City, last season's Premier League Golden Boot winner, Erling Haaland, scored two goals during the summer.

The big advantage Manchester City have over any other side in a title race is Haaland.

The Norway international broke records left, right and centre last season - his first at City.

Haaland scored a record 36 goals in 35 league games to win the Golden Boot - and netted 52 goals, a record for a Manchester City player, in 53 games in all competitions.

Arsenal did not have quite the same focal point in attack as Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard finished as the club's joint top scorers in the league with 15 goals.

That didn't diminish their attacking threat, however, as they scored a club-record 88 goals in the Premier League and finished with 16 different scorers in the league - more than any other team.

Details

6 August 2023 (2023-08-06) 16:00 BST	Arsenal	1–1	Manchester City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 81,145 Referee: Stuart Attwell (Birmingham)
	Trossard  90+11'	Report	Palmer  77'
		Penalties
	Ødegaard Trossard Saka Vieira	4–1	De Bruyne Silva Rodri

Arsenal

Manchester City

GK 1 Aaron Ramsdale RB 4 Ben White CB 2 William Saliba CB 6 Gabriel Magalhães 66' 87' LB 12 Jurriën Timber 76' CM 41 Declan Rice 81' CM 5 Thomas Partey 8' RW 7 Bukayo Saka AM 8 Martin Ødegaard (c) LW 11 Gabriel Martinelli 75' CF 29 Kai Havertz 27' 87' Substitutes: GK 30 Matt Turner DF 3 Kieran Tierney 76' DF 15 Jakub Kiwior DF 16 Rob Holding DF 18 Takehiro Tomiyasu MF 10 Emile Smith Rowe 87' MF 21 Fábio Vieira 87' FW 14 Eddie Nketiah 81' FW 19 Leandro Trossard 75' Manager: Mikel Arteta 17'

GK 18 Stefan Ortega RB 2 Kyle Walker (c) CB 5 John Stones CB 3 Rúben Dias LB 25 Manuel Akanji CM 16 Rodri CM 8 Mateo Kovačić 64' RW 20 Bernardo Silva AM 19 Julián Álvarez 31' LW 10 Jack Grealish 58' CF 9 Erling Haaland 64' Substitutes: GK 31 Ederson DF 14 Aymeric Laporte DF 21 Sergio Gómez DF 82 Rico Lewis MF 4 Kalvin Phillips MF 17 Kevin De Bruyne 64' MF 47 Phil Foden 58' MF 80 Cole Palmer 64' MF 87 James McAtee Manager: Pep Guardiola

Assistant referees: Tim Wood (Gloucestershire) Dan Robathan (Norfolk) Fourth official: John Brooks (Leicestershire) Reserve assistant referee: Steve Meredith (Nottinghamshire) Video assistant referee: Michael Salisbury (Lancashire) Assistant video assistant referee: Neil Davies (London)

Match rules 90 minutes Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Nine named substitutes, of which six may be used

See also

• 2023–24 Premier League
• 2023–24 FA Cup

External links

• The FA Community Shield at The Football Association
• Match report at BBC.co.uk

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