Community Shield: Liverpool and Arsenal already on the bridge

Thirty-five days after their first English league title in 30 years, Liverpool will be back on the bridge on Saturday at Wembley, for the Community Shield, against Arsenal who have long teeth. For the Gunners, who won the FA Cup against Chelsea on August 1 (2-1), the truce was only four weeks. After having finished its season in a forced march last summer and while Euro 2020 will begin in mid-June, English football has reduced the summer break to its strict minimum. A delay that unfortunately will not have allowed improvement on the Covid-19 front, quite the contrary, since the number of cases is increasing everywhere in Europe. Even if English football allowed a few spectators this weekend in the stands of the Brighton-Chelsea warm-up match as a test, Wembley will remain empty and the players' return from vacation is a risky period.

“Everything is so unpredictable from day to day. We are trying to adapt and put the team in the best possible conditions for Saturday ”

Liverpool were not spared since a case of Covid had been detected during his pre-season internship in Austria, ten days ago, without it being known whether it was a player or a member of the staff. Arsenal, faced with quarantine measures demanded by the British government, have four players currently in solitary confinement, including goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, according to the press. “Everything is so unpredictable from day to day. We are trying to adapt and put the team in the best possible conditions for Saturday, ”Mikel Arteta admitted Thursday at a press conference. The Covid also weighed on the transfer market, Liverpool for example renouncing the fight for Timo Werner, considered too expensive and hired by Chelsea.

"With the Covid-19, you have to think about it five times to know what you can do and what you cannot do," admitted Jürgen Klopp in an interview with an Austrian media on Thursday. “We don't know how much money we're going to make. Nobody knows, even if some teams look more optimistic for the future ... like Chelsea for example, ”joked the coach. Liverpool are keeping a close eye on Spanish Bayern midfielder Thiago Alcantara, but so far have only signed Greek defender Konstantinos Tsimikas this summer. Arsenal have also been very reasonable. His main recruit, Brazilian winger Willian, arrived for free from Chelsea where he was at the end of his contract.

A heavy political context too

The political context, marked at the end of last season by tributes to caregivers but also to the anti-racist movement Black Live Matters, has not eased either. The new police blunder in the United States, of which Jacob Blake, a black man was hit by seven bullets from a police officer in the back, has rekindled the flame and the English federation has decided that the four teams that will play on Saturday - the The men's Community Shield will be preceded by its women's counterpart between Chelsea and Manchester City - will drop to their knees before kick-off, as at the end of last season.

Two weeks before the resumption of the Premier League, observers will obviously be watching for any clues about the coming season. The Reds intend to demonstrate that their thirst for titles remains intact. "We just want to keep moving forward and win as many trophies as possible, because over the past few years we have shown that we are a very high level team," captain Jordan Henderson assured the club's website. “We will have to be on point from this first game and we have a new opportunity to win a title. After that, the start of the Premier League will come very quickly, ”he stressed. The Gunners, they will want to confirm their end-of-season recovery under the leadership of Arteta, even if the still uncertain future of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang remains a major unknown.

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