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The Community Shield takes place on Sunday, with Manchester City and Arsenal facing off in the season’s traditional curtain raiser.
Hosted at Wembley, the Community Shield usually pits the previous season’s Premier League winner against the side which lifted the FA Cup.
However, with Manchester City winning both trophies – as well as the Champions League as part of their historic treble – it leaves many pondering why are Arsenal in the Community Shield? FourFourTwo uncovers the reason below.
As stipulated in the Community Shield rules, when the same team wins both the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season, the second spot is awarded to the league runners-up from the previous term.
In this case, because Manchester City won both trophies, and because Arsenal finished runners-up in the Premier League during the 2022/23 campaign, the Community Shield this time around will feature the two aforementioned sides.
This isn’t a rare occurrence either. In total, 13 teams have won the Premier League and FA Cup double across history, meaning, since the inception of the Community Shield in 1908, there have been ten runners-up from the league competing for the trophy.
Arsenal will become the 11th on Sunday, with Aston Villa’s and Preston North End’s double wins coming prior to the creation of the Community Shield.
Arsenal vs Manchester City kicks off at 4pm BST on Sunday 6 August, with Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta chasing the first bit of silverware of the season. ITV will be broadcasting the game live in the UK, with streaming service ITVX also available for online viewers.
More Arsenal stories
In FourFourTwo’s Season Preview, we ask whether Arsenal are truly back, following last season’s title challenge.
We’ve also looked at every single club in the top four tiers of English football, previewing the campaign ahead and what is in store for each side in the Premier League and EFL.
Meanwhile, Arsenal transfer news is ramping up this summer, with the Gunners spending £200m early in the window. The Gunners could be targeting two more Manchester City players, according to reports.
