Why should Arsenal be afraid of winning the Community Shield? | Goal.com
Arsenal's emphatic 3-0 victory over Manchester City at the Principality Stadium, and their crowning with the Charity Shield (the Community Shield), may be an omen of doom for their Premier League ambitions rather than a celebration of the season's start.
City were modest in the first test for their new manager Enzo Maresca, but history says losing the Shield has often been a prelude to lifting the Premier League. The club won the league in the last three instances in which they lost the Shield, in 2021, 2022 and 2023. They lost the title in the two most recent occasions on which they won the Shield, in 2019 and 2024.
The greater irony concerns Arsenal themselves, according to Britain's "The Sun". The club have won the Shield 18 times in their history, nine of them in the Premier League era, and have never gone on to win the title after any of them. The last time they beat Manchester United in the Shield, in 1998, United responded by achieving the historic treble.
The figures reveal how rare it is to combine the Shield and the league. It has happened only eight times in Premier League history, the most recent being Manchester City in the 2018-2019 season, when they beat Chelsea with two goals from Sergio Aguero at Wembley after their 100-point season.
Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson were the most successful in this double, achieving it five times in the 1993-1994, 1996-1997, 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2010-2011 seasons.
Despite the curse, Arsenal looked confident of breaking it. Captain Martin Odegaard, scorer of the third goal in Cardiff, said the team "showed its level and wants to win everything", while Mikel Arteta stressed that the task requires something exceptional, adding: "We know how difficult the task is, which is why we have not won the title again. There is greater confidence now, we know how to win and what it takes to achieve the title, and playing this way is very impressive."
Coventry City visit on Friday evening to open Arsenal's league campaign, with the hosts determined to dispel every doubt and prove that this Community Shield marks the start of a title, not an omen of doom.
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