City the 'team to beat' in Community Shield, says Arteta

Arsenal are determined to fight for all trophies in the new season as the Premier League runners-up begin their 2023-24 campaign against treble winners Manchester City in the Community Shield, manager Mikel Arteta said on Friday.

Arsenal's title challenge crumbled last season in the face of a relentless City, who have won three successive top-flight titles before winning their maiden Champions League crown in June.

Arsenal enjoyed an eight-point lead over City until mid-March but lost it at the end of April and will now look to seek revenge in Sunday's traditional curtain-raiser to the Premier League season at Wembley.

"Very excited to play a final to win a trophy, we are playing against the team to beat," Arteta told reporters.

"This is what we want (a new era for Arsenal), fighting for every trophy. We have to prove that. What we did last year was not enough to win the big trophy, and we have to be better.

"We have to try and maintain the level and improve it for them (fans)."

But head-to-head record against City does not help Arteta's cause as the Spaniard has lost on eight occasions in the nine matches he has faced against a City side as coach, with the only win coming in the 2020 FA Cup semifinal.

In the last decade, only one side has been able to lift the Premier League after winning the Community Shield, and that was City in 2018.