Man City vs Arsenal prediction, odds, betting tips and best bets for Community Shield 2023

The Community Shield is the annual signal to Premier League fans that the season has begun, with the football season now ready to kick off.

In its 101st edition, the Community Shield has long been slated as the precursor to the league's start, and this year is no different, scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 6, with the start of the Premier League schedule set for later that week on Friday.

The competition pits the defending Premier League champions against the FA Cup winners. However, on years where the same team wins both trophies, the Premier League runners-up qualify instead.

This year, that's the case as Manchester City won both the Premier League and FA Cup, and thus league runners-up Arsenal are slated to play against last year's treble winners.

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If there's any knock on Man City over the last few years as they've romped to multiple Premier League titles, it's that they start the season slow — at least by their standards. Man City have played in four of the last five Community Shields, but they only achieved victory in one, losing two and drawing one across the other three.

Last year, they dropped the Community Shield to Liverpool by a 3-1 score, and suffered draws in two of their first six Premier League matches. The year before, City also lost the Community Shield, a 1-0 defeat to Leicester City, and followed that up with a 1-0 defeat to Spurs in their first Premier League match.

This summer in their preseason warmups, Man City narrowly edged Bayern 2-1 on a late goal before falling by the same scoreline to Atletico Madrid. It's hard to bet against such a monster team, but they have their sights set on other competitions, while Arsenal will be gunning for any trophies they