Football fans have endured such a long and tortuous summer without any footballing action of note but they can now rejoice as the new season is finally upon us. The curtain raiser is always the Community Shield, pitting the Premiership champions against the FA Cup holders in an exhibition match. This year it will be a replay of the FA Cup final, which saw Arsenal beat Premiership winners Chelsea 2-1. It will be a fascinating opportunity to see how well-prepared each team is for the rigours of the season ahead, and it gives bettors something serious to finally get their teeth into after scrabbling around things like the Confederations Cup and CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Arsenal’s victory in the cup final was surprising but also thoroughly resounding. They could and should have won by a greater margin of victory as Chelsea seemed a bit burnt out following an intense fight with Tottenham to win the title. They will now have recharged their batteries and can gain a measure of revenge. These two met in a pre-season friendly and Chelsea won 3-0, but it is not advisable to read too much into that. Afterwards Chelsea lost to Bayern Munich, who Arsenal had beaten in their previous game. Basically, pre-season friendlies – filled with substitutions and people pulling out of tackles in fear of sustaining injury – are an exercise in getting players match fit and giving fringe players a run out, so the results are not important.
Both teams will take this game far more seriously and Arsene Wenger and Antonio Conte are expected to field the strongest sides available to them. Chelsea are the 6/5 favourites with Bet Victor, 888 Sport and others, which is understandable after they bolstered their title winning squad with the likes of Alvaro Morata and Timoue Bakayoko this summer. Arsenal are out at 12/5 with Will Hill, and the draw is 13/5, again with other green listed bookmakers. Most of the action is going on Arsenal and at that price it is easy to see why. The Gunners are the most successful team in the history of the shield, featuring in 21 clashes and winning 14 of them. After winning the FA Cup in 2015 they played Chelsea, who had just won the league, in the Community Shield and won 1-0. It was their second consecutive victory in the Community Shield after beating league champions Man City the year before. Last year cup holders Man Utd beat Premiership champions Leicester, so the cup winners have had it all their own way in recent times.
Arsenal have looked pretty fit in pre-season and Wenger says they are in better shape than the start of last campaign. They often get off to a flier when there is not a major summer tournament, and at 12/5 it is very tempting. Chelsea have lost five of their last six shield appearances and do not seem to take it very seriously. Arsenal will have a psychological edge after that cup final victory and winning it would mean more to them, so backing the Gunners seems the logical option.
Over 2.5 goals also looks interesting at 79/100 with Marathon Bet, because all three meetings between these sides last season saw over 2.5 goals. As it is early in the season, you would expect some defensive lapses, particularly towards the end of the game when fatigue sets in as a result of rustiness. Both teams have dangerous options off the bench and those players running at tired defenders could yield late goals and push the totals beyond 2.5. The second half being the highest scoring half also looks good, at 109/100 with Marathon.
Calculators
