On Sunday, fans of English football will get to witness two of the Premier League’s biggest rivals; two of London’s biggest clubs lock horns in the 2015 Community Shield clash.
Arsenal will face off against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea this weekend, with both sides entering the game with confidence and bragging rights behind them.
The Gunners will arrive at Wembley having enjoyed a successful, confidence-boosting pre-season campaign, winning two pieces of silverware; the Barclays Asia Trophy and the 2015 Emirates Cup, albeit their importance fails to rank high among the fans.
The Blues on the other hand, having endured a far less impressive pre-season campaign, suffering two defeats in their International Champions Cup campaign, boast a spectacular record against Wenger’s crew, having not lost a single game under their Portuguese manager’s reign.
But which of the two sides can boast the better record in this English Premier League curtain opener matchup? Let us take a look.
The tournament’s two most successful teams are Manchester United and Liverpool, but between the two London sides, Arsenal boasts the better trophy tally, with 13 titles to their name (albeit one was shared with Tottenham), compared to Chelsea’s four.
Arsenal, despite suffering a ten-year wait for this trophy, are the reigning Community Shield champions, and will be hoping to become the latest team to win back-to-back trophies, the Red Devils in 2010 and 2011 being the last.
Stats show that the Community Shield usually favors the English Premier League holders, however, the Fa Cup champions have time and time again proved they can break the cycle.
In fact, last season, the Gunners defeated league champions Man City 3-0, becoming only the third FA Cup holders in the last 10 years to achieve this feat, Chelsea and Liverpool being the only other two sides.
Chelsea are six years without the Community Shield, with their last win coming in 2009, and despite beating Arsenal in the 2005 when the two sides last met in this exact same venue, history backs the north London side to swoop up the title over the Stamford Bridge-based team.
Nonetheless, Chelsea have one argument in their favor that never seems to get old:
