Arsenal must break seven-year curse after winning Community Shield
Arsenal defeated Manchester City 3-0 to win their 18th Community Shield title, but that prize seemingly comes with a curse that not many champions can rid themselves of.
Goals from Riccardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard helped the Gunners to a dominant victory over the FA Cup holders. However, the triumph at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium may be more of a burden than a blessing.
The winners of the Community Shield have rarely gone onto win the Premier League title in recent years and Mikel Arteta's side are now tasked with breaking a seven-year curse that has plagued those who were victorious in the season's traditional curtain raiser.
Arsenal beat Man City 3-0 to win the Community Shield! 🛡️💪
Will they be just the 2nd winners in the last 15 seasons to go on & win the Premier League? 👀 pic.twitter.com/JU3MAuvhji
Arsenal are no strangers to winning the Community Shield, having done so 18 times with their first triumph coming against Sheffield Wednesday in 1930.
Like plenty of other Shield victors, the Gunners have rarely ended the forthcoming season as league winners, something they will be looking to change this term. Of the 18 titles they have won, only three of them have culminated in the North Londoners ended the campaign as champions, the last coming in 1935, coincidentally the last time they won the title back-to-back.
Man City are the only team in the last 15 years to go on and finish at the summit of the top flight after winning the Community Shield, doing so in the 2018/19 season. Having defeated Chelsea 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in 2018, Pep Guardiola's side retained the league title when they pipped Liverpool to the prize on the final day.
Only eight of the 36 teams to win the trophy since 1989 have gone on and become league champions the following years so Arsenal will be looking to become the ninth team to do it while also searching for their first back-to-back title in over 90 years.
In fact, Arteta's side are one of the clubs who have gone closest to winning the league after the Community Shield, doing so in the 2023/24 season. Having defeated Man City in the 2023 edition 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, they took Guardiola's side to the last day of the campaign, but failed to manage the feat as they finished two points behind the champions.
The Gunners are in a great place to manage it this time round. They look like the team to beat, as their performance against City showed, and as the heavy favourites to win the league once again, there is no reason they can't go on and break the curse.
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