Arsenal vs Man City Community Shield betting tips
The traditional curtain-raiser for the 2026/27 English football season takes place this weekend in Cardiff as Premier League champions Arsenal take on FA Cup winners Manchester City in the FA Community Shield.
Arsenal come into the new season off the back of winning their first Premier League trophy since 2004, with the Gunners favourites to defend their title after a strong transfer window and stability to contrast with plenty of change and even some chaos at each of their rivals.
As for City, life without Pep Guardiola begins with a match against the team that has become their new main rivals, with Arsenal having beaten them to the title at the third time of asking last term.
Enzo Maresca takes the helm offering plenty of promise, but it may not as be as easy as it seems this season, with rumours continuing over the future of star man Rodri and recent stalwarts such as Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Nathan Ake all leaving the club.
Nevertheless, Maresca will be expected to challenge for the top honours this season and the mind games start straight away this weekend as we get a first glimpse of the latest iteration of these two sides.
Few will be surprised to see the Gunners as the slight favourites at the Millennium Stadium, with football bookmakers pricing the champions at 4/5 compared to City’s odds of 19/20 to lift the trophy on Sunday.
Community Shield prediction: Arteta to beat Maresca
Arsenal begin the new season as comfortable favourites to land another Premier League title thanks to a favourable combination of factors, not least their impressive title win in 2025/26.
The Gunners have strengthened over the summer too, with the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes the most notable addition to a side that was already the strongest in the league.
Couple that with the departure of Guardiola at the end of last season and the seemingly likely exit of Rodri, and the gap between the top two may well have increased to a chasm by the time the 2026/27 Premier League season kicks off.
City fans will be hoping Maresca hits the ground running in his new role and he’ll certainly be expected to do so as he makes a return to the Etihad, though the Cityzens will be underdogs for the first time in a long time this season.
And while many view the Community Shield as a glorified friendly, you suspect both Arteta and Maresca will look at it as a chance to land an early – if small – psychological blow as the title race prepares to kick off.
Plenty will depend on how strong the managers decide to go with their starting XIs, though we’d expect both to go as close to full strength as possible.
If that happens then Arsenal will have the edge, though as we’ve seen over their last few meetings, games between these two sides rarely pan out as expected.
Nevertheless, we expect Arsenal to win eventually, though only three of the last 10 games between these two sides have seen either side keep a clean sheet, so we do think both teams will find the net too, which is a decent price on several UK betting sites.
Community Shield prediction 1: Arsenal to win, both teams to score - 10/3 Betfred
Community Shield tips: Havertz off to the perfect start?
Last season’s title marked the best moment yet in Kai Havertz’s Arsenal career, though it may have been bittersweet in some ways after the German sat out so much of the season with a knee injury.
Nevertheless, once Havertz returned he made the striker spot his own, displacing Viktor Gyokeres as Arsenal won a Premier League title but lost the Champions League final.
Havertz did provide some key moments after returning too, scoring key goals in Europe – including in the final – and ending the season with two goals in his last five as the Gunners wrapped up a first league title since 2004.
The club have clearly not deemed it necessary to add a striker over the summer transfer window, and we can expect to see Havertz leading the line for the Gunners once more this season.
And with three World Cup goals to add to those in the European Cup final and the end of the league season, we think the German will find the net in Cardiff this weekend too. You’ll get a price of 9/4 on that on the top betting apps.
Community Shield prediction 2: Kai Havertz to score anytime - 9/4 Bet365
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