Barely six days after the conclusion of the much-delayed 2019-20 season with the 
Champions League final seeing Bayern Munich defeat Paris St Germain to claim their sixth European crown, the English professional season will see its traditional curtain-raiser to the new season take place this coming weekend as runaway Premier League Champions Liverpool will take on FA Cup Winners Arsenal at Wembley in the Community Shield.
It promises to be an exciting game, not least because the Gunners were one of just three teams to beat Liverpool in the Premier League last season, landing a 2-1 win at the Emirates to end a run of ten games without a win against Jurgen Klopp’s team. The Reds, who made two uncharacteristic defensive mistakes in that game, will certainly want to put that right against Mikel Arteta’s team.
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There’s no doubt that this weekend the attention of many punters across the world, both in the UK and the United States, will be on the action at Wembley as two of the biggest and most successful teams in the country lock horns at Wembley. Let’s now preview Saturday’s Community Shield game between Arsenal and Liverpool by taking a look at the history of the match.
The Community Shield – A Historical Perspective
The Community Shield, or as it was previously known the Charity Shield, has been a 
fixture on the English Football calendar since 1907. The game, which has seen a number of different fixtures played over the years before settling on a match between the League Champions and FA Cup Winners, raises money for a number of charitable causes which the FA then support throughout the season.
Although critics may call the game a ‘glorified friendly’ with a trophy up for grabs it is a match which both players and fans alike are keen to win. It may not have the prestige of a Champions League, Premier League or even FA Cup win, but it does mean a team will start the season with one trophy in the bag.
Manchester United are the most successful team in the competition’s history with 21 wins, while the two teams competing on Saturday, Liverpool and Arsenal both have 15 wins apiece in second place in the table. So whoever wins on Saturday will move into sole second spot in the table, with the loser dropping to third.
Since 2000, only five teams have won the trophy, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool and only eight teams in total have contested the game, the five teams above plus one appearance each for Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic and Leicester City (all of whom were losers).
Saturday’s game will be the fourth time Liverpool and Arsenal will have met in the match, with Liverpool winning the first two games in 1979 (by a 3-1 scoreline) and 1989 (1-0) and Arsenal winning in 2002 also by a 1-0 scoreline.
Since 1974, the match has been held at Wembley Stadium, apart from a spell while Wembley was being renovated between 2001 and 2006, when it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and also in 2012, when the fixture was played at Villa Park.
Manchester City are the current holders after beating Liverpool 5-4 on penalties last year, following a 1-1 draw between the teams. City have won both the last two Community Shield matches, defeating Chelsea 2-0 in 2018 also.
Arsenal last won the trophy back in 2017, when they defeated Chelsea on penalties. The Gunners also won the trophy in both 2014 and 2015 too. Liverpool’s last win came back in 2006 when they beat Chelsea 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium.
Community Shield Team News
Arsenal
The main injury news for Arsenal is that keeper Bernd Leno remains absent through 
injury, which means Emiliano Martinez will continue to deputise in goal. William Saliba, who returns to the club after a successful loan spell with St. Etienne last season, and Brazilian free agent signing Willian are the new additions Arsenal can call on. Mesut Ozil seems to be still out of favour with Arteta, as is the competitive French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi who does seem destined to leave the club However, Aubameyang does seem set to stay with the club and could join Bukayo Saka in signing a new deal which would be a major coup for the Gunners with so many top European teams interested in the Gabon international striker.
Arsenal Predicted Team 🙁 (5-3-2) – Martinelli (Gk), Bellerin (Dr), Tierney (Dl), Papasthatopoulos (Dc), Kolasinac (Dc), Luiz (Dc), Xhaka (Mc), Torreira (Mc), Willian (AMc), Lacazette (Ac), Aubameyang (Ac)
Liverpool
Liverpool do have a couple of injury worries ahead of this game with the likes of 
Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain all either injured or in the process of regaining full fitness after injury. It will be interesting to see whether Alexander-Arnold plays after he missed the Red’s trip to Austria. Oxlade Chamberlain is definitely out and with Lovren and Lallana now at new clubs, and only a new left back in Costas Tsimikas coming in, it looks likely to be a very familiar line up that Jurgen Klopp names for the game.
Liverpool Predicted Team: (4-3-3) – Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, van Dijk, Gomez, Fabinho, Keita, Wijnaldum, Firmino, Mane, Salah.
Community Shield Tips
- Full Time Result – Liverpool to win – 13/20
- Correct Score – Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal – 11/1
- Both Teams to Score – Yes – 8/13
- Anytime Goalscorer – Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) – 6/4
- Anytime Scorecast – Roberto Firnino to score anytime and Liverpool to win 3-1 – 16/1
*All odds shown were correct with bet365 Sport as of 12.50pm on Wednesday 26t August 2020.
