Despite the incredible success of the 2022/23 campaign, it’s not been the easiest summer for City, losing key players İlkay Gündoğan and Riyad Mahrez, while their only arrival at this stage is Mateo Kovačić from Chelsea.
Regardless, huge quality remains in Pep Guardiola’s squad, underlined by their imperious run to the treble that saw them lose just one of their last 26 matches of the season (W20, D5).
Remarkably, this will be City’s 16th appearance at Wembley in cup competition under the Spaniard’s stewardship (W10, L5), but this isn’t a competition that’s been particularly good to them, with Guardiola’s men having lost their last two Community Shield appearances while they have a negative win-loss return historically (W6, L8).
The same cannot be said of Arsenal, who’ve won each of their last four in this competition, including a 3-0 win over City back in 2014. Another success would be the Gunners’ 17th and move them into second place all time, only behind City’s arch-rivals Manchester United (21).
A clash between last season’s Premier League (PL) top two at such an early stage also represents an opportunity for Mikel Arteta’s men to lay down a marker of intent after crumbling so disappointingly in the last campaign - winning just three of their last nine matches (D3, L3).
Arsenal are unbeaten on their last three trips to Wembley (W2, D1), but maintaining that record against City looks a tall order given another injury to Gabriel Jesus aligns with their ongoing eight-match losing H2H streak.
That dismal run makes up part of a sequence of just one win from the last 16 meetings (L15), so there may be revenge at the forefront of Gunners’ minds on the famous turf of the national stadium.
Key battle: Ominously, Guardiola warned that 52-goal striker Erling Haaland is “fitter and much better” heading into this season - a frightening prospect for an Arsenal side he directly contributed to four goals in three H2Hs against last season (G2, A2).
The Gunners will need William Saliba to be at his best to thwart him - the Frenchman lost just three of his 27 PL appearances last term (W21, D3).
Hot stat: Arteta has lost nine of his ten meetings with Guardiola, including a January 2022 fixture at which he remained home with COVID, which stands as his lowest win rate against any other manager with at least two H2Hs.
