The Premier League trophy is barely a few months old and Arsenal are already back in Cardiff to defend it, in a manner of speaking. Mikel Arteta’s champions face Manchester City in the 2026 FA Community Shield on Sunday, August 16, and for the first time in twenty years the traditional curtain-raiser isn’t happening at Wembley.
Blame The Weeknd. His “After Hours til Dawn” tour has Wembley booked solid, so the FA shifted the fixture to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, the same ground that hosted the Shield regularly between 2001 and 2007 while Wembley was being rebuilt. Arsenal know the place well: they won it twice there, in 2002 and 2004, and haven’t played a competitive match under that roof since a League Cup final defeat to Chelsea back in February 2007.
When and where to watch
Kick-off is at 3pm BST (2pm GMT/UTC), with the match live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK and streaming on HBO Max elsewhere. Sam Barrott has the whistle.
It’s the 104th edition of the Community Shield and the 217th meeting between these two clubs in all competitions, a rivalry that’s grown sharper since Arteta took the Arsenal job. Arsenal arrive as Premier League champions after finally ending a 22-year wait for the title, going unbeaten in 33 of their 38 league games last season. City qualify as FA Cup holders, having beaten Chelsea in the final back in May.
Neither side, if we’re honest, looks fully sharp right now. Arsenal have won just one of four pre-season friendlies, following up a 4-1 win over Girona with back-to-back defeats to Real Betis and Borussia Dortmund before a scrappy 1-1 draw against Como in midweek. City haven’t fared much better in results terms either, though Enzo Maresca’s side did put three past both a K-League XI and Atletico Madrid, with Omar Marmoush scoring twice against the Spanish side in Haaland’s absence.
Arsenal team news
Arteta is still without two first-choice defenders. William Saliba and Jurrien Timber both remain out with long-term issues, which means Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera are set to fill in on the right side of a back four alongside Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori.
The better news for Arsenal fans is that Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi are all back in training after an extended break following the World Cup, and Arteta confirmed at his press conference that the trio will be involved against City, health permitting. Whether that means a start or a cameo off the bench is another question, and given none of them have played a minute of pre-season, a cautious approach seems likely.
Bruno Guimaraes, meanwhile, is in line for his first Arsenal start after coming off the bench against Como. Arteta was careful not to overpromise on the Brazilian’s involvement, noting he’s only had three training sessions but has looked sharp in them. Expect him to partner Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has started every pre-season match, in central midfield.
Up top, Christos Tzolis has been one of the standout performers of Arsenal’s summer and could edge out Gabriel Martinelli, who continues to be linked with a move away from the club. Kai Havertz remains Arteta’s preferred option through the middle for the biggest occasions.
Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Raya; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Dowman, Tzolis; Havertz
Manchester City team news
This is Maresca’s first competitive game in charge of City since replacing Pep Guardiola, and he’s had to navigate a similar post-World Cup pile-up of unavailable players. Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku, Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly and Rayan Cherki only rejoined training in the days before the final, so expect a fairly conservative call on minutes even if most are named in the squad.
Rodri is a definite absentee. He’s recovering from minor back surgery undertaken after captaining Spain to World Cup glory and only returned to the club on August 14, two days before the game, with his rumoured move to Barcelona still unresolved. Jack Grealish has also been working alone after missing City’s pre-season tour of Asia.
Otherwise, Maresca is close to a full squad, and reports out of the City camp suggest Haaland could return to the matchday squad after his post-tournament rest, even if starting him from minute one feels like a risk this early.
Predicted Man City XI (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Lewis, Nunes, Dias, Ait-Nouri; Gonzalez, Reijnders; Savinho, Foden, Semenyo; Marmoush
Head-to-head form
This fixture has tilted City’s way lately. Across the last five meetings between the sides in all competitions, City have won three, Arsenal one, with a single draw in between. The most recent two were both City wins: a 2-0 victory in the EFL Cup final at Wembley in March, courtesy of a Nico O’Reilly double, followed by a 2-1 win at the Etihad in the Premier League back in April.
Arsenal do have one thing on their side heading into Cardiff, though. The last time these two met in the Community Shield, back in 2023, Arsenal won it on penalties after Leandro Trossard cancelled out City’s opener in a 1-1 draw. Fabio Vieira scored the winning spot kick that day, eighteen years after Patrick Vieira did something similar for Arsenal against Manchester United at the same Cardiff ground. Arsenal have generally been the more reliable of the two from twelve yards throughout this pre-season as well, for what that’s worth in August.
Community Shield winners: last 10 years
Neither club has had it easy in this competition lately, penalties have decided four of the last six finals. Here’s how the Shield has gone since 2016:
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Manchester United | Leicester City | 2-1 |
| 2017 | Arsenal | Chelsea | 1-1 (4-1 pens) |
| 2018 | Manchester City | Chelsea | 2-0 |
| 2019 | Manchester City | Liverpool | 1-1 (5-4 pens) |
| 2020 | Arsenal | Liverpool | 1-1 (5-4 pens) |
| 2021 | Leicester City | Manchester City | 1-0 |
| 2022 | Liverpool | Manchester City | 3-1 |
| 2023 | Arsenal | Manchester City | 1-1 (4-1 pens) |
| 2024 | Manchester City | Manchester United | 1-1 (7-6 pens) |
| 2025 | Crystal Palace | Liverpool | 2-2 (3-2 pens) |
Arsenal go into Sunday with two wins from their last three appearances in the competition, both against City, both on penalties. City, meanwhile, have been on the losing side in three of their last five finals, though two of those defeats came against Manchester United and Liverpool rather than Arsenal.
Prediction
Given how threadbare both squads look right now, and how little either has shown in the way of settled form over pre-season, a cagey, low-scoring game feels likely. Arsenal’s captain, Victor Gyokeres, has already made clear the Gunners won’t be treating this as a glorified friendly, and Community Shield games have a habit of being tighter than the “who cares” reputation suggests.
Prediction: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City, with Arsenal to win it on penalties.
Whoever lifts the Shield in Cardiff gets bragging rights and the first piece of domestic silverware of the new campaign, before Arsenal turn their full attention to hosting newly promoted Coventry City in their Premier League opener at the Emirates the following weekend.
