Manchester City take on Arsenal tomorrow at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff in the FA Community Shield. The match is the annual curtain raiser between the Premier League champions and FA Cup holders. Enzo Maresca revealed yesterday that he has a full squad to choose from for the match outside of Rodri. However, there is uncertainty surrounding the makeup of Manchester City’s midfield for the match. Based on that uncertainty, perhaps Elliot Anderson is set to start his first match for Manchester City against Arsenal.
How Manchester City will lineup in midfield for tomorrow’s FA Community Shield fixture is uncertain.
In Manchester City’s three preseason friendlies against Inter Milan, the K-League All-Stars and Atletico Madrid, Mateo Kovacic, Tijjani Reijnders, and Phil Foden started in midfield. In ordinary circumstances, the safe bet would be that those three players would make up City’s midfield against Arsenal tomorrow.
It is highly unlikely that Tijjani Reijnders will feature in tomorrow’s match for Manchester City. In fact, Reijnders may not be a City player by the time the starting lineups are announced. Fabrizio Romano has reported that Al Qadsiah and Manchester City will exchange the final documents for Reijnders to sign for the Saudi Arabian club today. City will receive €61 million for Reijnders. So the Dutch international is likely a non-starter for City tomorrow.
Perhaps Nico Gonzalez could start in place of Tijjani Reijnders given how City lined up in their preseason matches. The Spanish midfielder will want to make an impression from the start for Enzo Maresca at some point. Perhaps that opportunity may arrive tomorrow. However, Elliot Anderson could be the ideal player to slot into Tijjani Reijnders’ starting place from the three preseason games that City played.
The scene is set for Elliot Anderson to make his first start for City in tomorrow’s FA Community Shield clash with Arsenal.
The safe bet for Enzo Maresca would be to start Nico Gonzalez tomorrow. Elliot Anderson will have only trained with his Manchester City teammates for four days by the time tomorrow’s match comes around. Having said that, may the FA Community Shield is the ideal setting to play Anderson from the start.
With how Enzo Maresca’s system operates, Elliot Anderson does look to be the ideal midfielder for it. Anderson is an all-action midfielder, who thrives in duels and in possession, he excels at driving the game forward. Anderson is excellent at breaking the lines with his passing and so often for both Nottingham Forest and for England he can start attacks once he wins possession. Manchester City could benefit greatly from Anderson’s strengths against Arsenal.
The strong traits of Anderson’s game were never the strength of Tijjani Reijnders. So looking at who could take the role Reijnders played in preseason, Elliot Anderson looks to be the ideal replacement. Elliot Anderson will play a vital role for Enzo Maresca’s side for the 2026-27 season and beyond. Perhaps tomorrow is the right setting for him to start his first match for Manchester City.
Final thoughts.
Who will start in the Manchester City midfield for tomorrow’s clash with Arsenal isn’t immediately clear. Due to this uncertainty, perhaps the time is right for Elliot Anderson to start his first game for his new club. There is logic to saving that particular moment for next weekend’s Premier League opening fixture against Bournemouth. However, the argument to unleash Elliot Anderson tomorrow is sound so perhaps that is the option that Enzo Maresca will select.