Arsenal vs Man City TV channel and kick-off time: How to watch the Community Shield and latest team news

Manchester City’s 2023/24 season officially kicks off this weekend when they face rivals Arsenal in the Community Shield final.

The clash is the traditional curtain raiser for the top-flight campaign in England, with the Premier League champions meeting the FA Cup winners from the previous season. City, of course, won both competitions last term - plus a maiden Champions League triumph - meaning Pep Guardiola’s men will face the side who finished as runners-up in the league: Arsenal.

City and the Gunners were locked in a tightly contested battle at the top of the table for the majority of the campaign, only for the latter to stumble in the final weeks of the season, as City put together a menacing 12-game winning streak. Arsenal's 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 20 May secured another title for Guardiola, with City beating Chelsea the following day and lifting the Premier League trophy.

But the sides developed a healthy rivalry last term, especially given the links between the two clubs with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and of course manager Mikel Arteta moving from the Etihad to North London in recent years.

City and Arsenal are the two favourites to win the title this season, which adds an extra dimension to this weekend’s clash. Here’s all the major pre-match information ahead of the game…

What time and date is Man City vs Arsenal?

The 2023 Community begins at 4pm on Sunday 6 August. The Wembley encounter was originally scheduled for 5:30pm, but after supporters’ group WeAre1894 called on fans to boycott the match due to the difficulties of travelling via public transport from Manchester, it was rearranged to a 4pm start. 

Man City vs Arsenal TV channel

The game will be shown on ITV1 in the UK, with the pre-match build-up beginning at 3:15pm.

Team news

Nathan Ake and Kevin De Bruyne are the only players known to be carrying knocks from the City camp, and both sat out Sunday’s loss to Atletico Madrid. Cole Palmer was an unused substitute in that game, as he was in the previous game against Bayern Munich, although no injury has been provided by the club. Other than that, it’s expected to be a full-strength squad for Guardiola.

As for Arsenal, they will be without Jesus after Arteta confirmed on Wednesday that the striker will miss the game due to a knee problem, while Zinchenko, who hasn’t featured since May, is also expected to miss out, along with Folarin Balogun. Mohamed Elneny is a long-term absentee, with Reiss Nelson, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nicolas Pepe, Cedric Soares and Nuno Tavares all not involved in the squad that travelled to the USA on pre-season, and won’t play any role this weekend. In better news, Declan Rice returned to the team for the midweek friendly against Monaco and should be fit to play on Sunday.