Why winning the Community Shield could be a bad omen for Arsenal and Manchester City
The two sides renew their rivalry this weekend (Picture: Getty) Arsenal and Manchester City meet in the Community Shield on Sunday with the first piece of silverware of the season set to be handed out. While the traditional curtain-raiser is viewed by some as little more than a glorified friendly, both teams will nevertheless be keen to head into the new campaign with a dose of positivity. But perhaps surprisingly, victory in the annual game does not historically translate to success in the Premier League season ahead. Of the past 15 teams to have won the Community Shield, only one side has gone on to win the league title at the end of that season. Get the latest transfer news every morning Sign up to our daily football newsletter for personalised updates on who your team is trying to sign and who won't be around next season. That team is Manchester City, who completed the Community Shield and Premier League double in the 2018/19 season. And in the Premier League era as a whole, only eight of the 34 winners of the Shield have gone on to win the trophy, with five of these happening in a six-year period from 2005 until 2010. As a matter of fact, the Community Shield runners-up have actually been more successful in the league than the winners themselves. Manchester City went on to win the league in 2018/19 (Picture: Getty) Since 1992, the losers have won ten league titles compared to the eight picked up by the winners. Three of these instances were Manchester City, who were beaten three seasons in a row between 2021 and 2023. And of the 34 Premier League winners, 15 weren’t even involved in the game itself. What’s more, the winners and runners-up have only finished as the top two teams in the Premier League on ten occasions. Last year’s winners, Crystal Palace, ended up finishing 15th in the league – although it was unrealistic to expect Oliver Glasner’s side to compete for the title. The beaten team, Liverpool, could only manage a disappointing fifth place under Arne Slot. Community Shield winners - league position 2011/12: Man Utd – 2nd 2012/13: Man City – 2nd 2013/14: Man Utd – 7th 2014/15: Arsenal – 3rd 2015/16: Arsenal – 2nd 2016/17: Man Utd – 6th 2017/18: Arsenal – 6th 2018/19: Man City – 1st 2019/20: Man City – 2nd 2020/21: Arsenal – 8th 2021/22: Leicester – 8th 2022/23: Liverpool – 5th 2023/24: Arsenal – 2nd 2024/25: Man City – 3rd 2025/26: Crystal Palace – 15th Who actually performs better in the Community Shield? Of the 34 Community Shield winners in the Premier League era, 18 won the league title in the previous season, while 13 were the FA Cup holders. But while the Premier League champions have a better success rate in the one-off game, the FA Cup winners have won eight of the past 12 Community Shields – including Palace last year. The other three Community Shield winners since 1992 were neither the Premier League nor FA Cup winners. Arsenal (1999 and 2023) and Manchester United (2010) only played in the game as Premier League runners-up and ended up beating the Double winners to claim the trophy. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
