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?Finally. We can rejoice and celebrate the arrival of some proper footballing action. Sunday sees Arsenal face Manchester City in the first match of significance (sorry, Emirates Cup) since May. True, the Community Shield may have fallen in stature, but it still serves as a meangingful bellwether for the upcoming Prem season, all the more when we take into consideration the contrast between these two clubs. At one end, we have the villanous, rapacious Citizens; at the other, the noble, frugal Gunners.
After all, Man City serves as the foil to Arsenal, even if Chelsea seems more villainous. City have deeper pockets, and, what's more, they've raided our squad far more often. Unlike Chelsea, they've been slapped on the wrist by UEFA for violating FFP. On Sunday, we may have to suffer the indignity of facing off against no less than three former Gunners – Clichy, Nasri, and Sagna – and this lends a sharper sheen what might otherwise feel like a glorified friendly.
Speaking of friendlies, it was just a little less than a year ago that Arsenal met City for an actual friendly, beating them 3-1 on 10 August 2013. 'Twixt then and now, of course, we suffered the first of three thumpings from our rivals, staggering to a 6-3 defeat at the Etihad last December (abetted, perhaps, by a few dodgy offside calls) before taking our lumps against Chelsea and Liverpool. Long story short, this ain't Man U-Wigan 2.0.
There's a bit of bad blood to this, blunted only a little by the relatively low stakes. Along those lines, we'll go in without Ozil, Mertesacker, or Podolski, while City go in without Aguero, Demichelis, or Zabaleta. Does this mean that our additions to this point (Alexis, Debuchy, and Chambers) trump theirs (Sagna, Reges, and Lampard)? Perhaps. Squad-selection aside, it may come down to who wants it more, who sees the deeper symbolism.
At one end, Man City have amassed silverware at an astounding rate, with five trophies in the last three years. At the other, Arsenal can only claim last season's FA Cup in the last nine. This might suggest that City could adopt a more-casual attitude the outing, which suits me just fine. Should we lose, no one will take much note of it. Should we win, we take a bit of confidence into the Prem season, one that starts with a bang, including a visit from City, a North London Derby, and a few others besides.
Winning the Community Shield may not matter as much on its face as it does for momentum, then. Beyond that, the matches start to fly fast and furious, with a visit from Crystal Palace the following Sunday and then a mid-week Champions League play-off against an opponent to be decided in the Friday draw. It's been a long summer. Sunday will tell us a little about how worth-it it has been.
In the end, I see our desire and our reinforcements trumpting City to the tune of a 3-2 victory. I won't go so far as to specify our scorers. As they say, the devil is in the details.
