With the kickoff to the English Premier League just around the corner and our big EPL preview running in Wednesday’s paper, we might as well get our feet wet talking about the annual curtain-jerker: The Community Shield.

It seems perfectly fitting that after nine years without a trophy, Arsenal now has won two pieces of silverware in a matter of months.

But even though it looked great in defeating last year’s EPL champion Manchester City, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves in thinking that the Gunners are one of the top contenders.

Even with the high-profile addition of Alexis Sanchez, this is a team that still lacks that true MVP-calibre player that the likes of Chelsea and the Manchester sides have.

The Gunners attack looked like it could do some damage this season, but this is a one-game sample size and it wasn’t exactly 100% effort out there.

When looking at the Community Shield, let’s just take it for what it is: An exhibition with some nominal bragging rights on the line.

Just look at the fact that both teams made six substitutions and that City sat a lot of its players, many of them having just joined the team a week or so before the game.

Without the likes of Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaletta and with Samir Nasri and David Silva playing just 45 minutes each, there was little chance that City was going to be able to truly compete.

I’m sure that we won’t see a repeat of this 3-0 defeat when these two teams meet a month from now at the Emirates.

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