The Community Shield, of course, doesn’t matter. Last season Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-1, Darwin Núñez looked more dangerous than Erling Haaland, and within a month a lot of predictions hastily amended after that Saturday afternoon at the KingPower were made to look pretty silly. The Community Shield has never mattered – apart from when it has.
It mattered in 2015, when Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal offered early warning of the José Mourinho implosion that was to follow. It mattered in 2010, when Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Chelsea offered notice of how good Alex Ferguson’s side had become. And it certainly mattered in 1974, when it exposed the tensions bubbling away at Leeds (see the On This Day section below). Does it matter that Arsenal, thanks to a deflected late equaliser and victory in a penalty shoot-out, beat City at Wembley on Sunday?
