Arsenal vs Liverpool: Community Shield sees start of Premier League champions’ pursuit of more silverware
Some fans will still be celebrating, but just 37 days after Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy they will match-up with Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, kicking off a new season and a new pursuit of silverware.
It is a quicker-than-usual turnaround for the Premier League champions, with a condensed off-season set to be followed by a condensed, busy campaign.
„The most intense, probably, we ever experience in our lives,“ predicted Jurgen Klopp.
Typically, captain Jordan Henderson has spoken this week about moving on from the triumphs of 2019/20 and focusing on what can be achieved in the future. But, with just a couple of weeks of training and a couple of friendlies under their belt, there is no doubt Liverpool will go into Saturday’s showpiece with their preparations far from complete.
„I would be very surprised if this will be the best game we play this season,“ Klopp said with a smile in his pre-match press conference. „But we should be ready to fight for a result because the opponent has a similar situation.“
Indeed, that limited preparation may be enough to see them past an Arsenal side also feeling their way back to full fitness – although, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up front following his back-to-back doubles at Wembley at the end of last season, the Gunners – who beat Liverpool after the restart in July – will provide a stern test.
More importantly, Klopp and Liverpool supporters will hope to see signs the Reds are not too far off where they need to be come their opening Premier League fixture with Leeds United in a fortnight’s time.
With international fixtures to take place between now and then, Klopp’s training-ground time with his players really is at a premium prior to the start of their title defence.
Beneficially, Liverpool have made few changes to the squad which dominated the league last time out. Kostas Tsimikas may make his first competitive Liverpool appearance at left-back and Rhian Brewster, who has scored three goals in their two friendlies, may be handed a start. But Klopp’s squad know the demands and know what is expected of them in this side.
Ultimately, success or defeat in the Community Shield has mattered little in terms of what comes next in the Premier League. Just eight Community Shield winners out of 28 have gone on to claim the title. And with an extra week before the Premier League gets under way on September 12 separating the start of the season and Saturday’s showpiece, there will still be time to refresh and refine before Liverpool begin the defence of their crown.
But this Liverpool side have become used to winning. They feed off it, and last season they did it most times they stepped onto a pitch. Henderson will want another trophy lift and victory would help set the tone for what’s to come.
If Liverpool are off the pace, Manchester City and the other Premier League hopefuls will be there to capitalise on any early slip-up. But Liverpool will be keen to remind them just why they are the ones to catch.
Henderson: Liverpool still hungry for success
Jordan Henderson says Liverpool are hungry for more success and they have put last season’s title win behind them.
„To be honest, we haven’t spoken about it [winning the league],“ the Liverpool captain told the club’s website.
„It’s more about, ‘Have you enjoyed your holiday?’ We’ve been cracking on, really working hard. New season, new start and a lot more things we want to go on and achieve.“
Arteta on Gabriel, Aubameyang
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta is positive the club will soon complete the signing of defender Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille and agree a new contract with Aubameyang.
Gabriel is set to join Arsenal after they agreed a £27m fee with Lille for the defender, beating off competition from Premier League rivals Manchester United, who held late discussions with the player’s representatives, Everton and Italian club Napoli for the 22-year-old.
Players to take the knee before Community Shield
Players will take a knee before the men’s and women’s Community Shield games at Wembley on August 29, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Football Association has confirmed.
FA Cup victors Manchester City Women and Women’s Super League winners Chelsea Women play each other first on Saturday (kick-off, 12:30pm) before FA Cup winners Arsenal take on Premier League holders Liverpool (kick-off, 4:30pm).
An FA spokesperson said: „Players in both the women’s and men’s FA Community Shield matches this weekend will take a knee before kick-off in order to show solidarity to the black community and to highlight inequality and injustice experienced by this community.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.
