Viktor Gyökeres on Community Shield Clash Against Manchester City

Viktor Gyökeres has no time for the old clichés about the Community Shield.

Call it a curtain-raiser, call it a “glorified friendly” if you like. The Arsenal striker isn’t buying any of it as Mikel Arteta’s side gear up to face Manchester City on Sunday.

“Against City? As a friendly? I don’t know what other people think but we want to win that game of course, for sure,”

the Sweden international snapped, cutting through the polite pre-season chatter. For him, this is not a warm-up. It’s a chance to land an early punch.

He knows what an early trophy can do to a dressing room.

“When you win titles, you get confidence, you get a boost with everything that comes with it,”

he said.

“So, yeah, it's only positive things with that. We want to make sure that we're not only on top of that but that we're ready for the new season.”

This year’s edition will unfold in a different setting. With Wembley booked out for concerts, the FA has shifted the 2026 Community Shield to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, a reminder that even English football’s traditional markers can move. The stakes, though, remain the same: Arsenal against City, champions against relentless challengers, and a first glimpse of how ready Arteta’s men are to defend their crown.

They will walk into that occasion with a serious new weapon.

Arsenal have landed Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle in a £75m deal, a statement signing as much as a tactical one. Gyökeres could barely hide his excitement.

“Yeah, we're all very happy,”

he said.

“He's an extremely good player and I think he will bring a lot of energy and his qualities to the team. I only have positive things to say.”

Energy. Qualities. A midfield already rich in technicians now has another heavyweight. It is an aggressive move from a club that clearly has no intention of treating last season’s title as a one-off.

Yet the gloss of that transfer has been set against some uncomfortable footage from pre-season. Arsenal have conceded three goals in each of their last two friendlies, a worrying leakiness that has cut through the optimism.

Gyökeres saw it up close in the 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, a game in which he scored a second-half penalty but watched his side picked apart too easily.

“[Borussia] Dortmund played man-to-man, when they attacked, they rotated a lot and made runs in behind,”

he explained.

“It was a good test for us and we learned what we have to do much better defensively. The third goal came from a corner, the other two goals at the beginning were of course frustrating as well.”

Those are not throwaway comments. Corners switched off at, runners not tracked, rotations not read quickly enough. The kind of details that separate a team that wins the league once from one that stays on the summit.

Gyökeres knows the clock is ticking. The Premier League opener is looming, and it comes with an extra edge for him: a meeting with his former club, Coventry City. Sentiment will have to wait. Arsenal cannot afford to roll into the new campaign still learning the basics of their defensive structure.

What they do not lack is edge.

Inside the camp, the mood is not of a champion easing into a new season, but of a squad bristling at the idea that last year might have been their peak. Asked whether he sees the same desire in Arteta’s eyes as before, Gyökeres didn’t hesitate.

“More hunger!”

Two words, and a warning. The manager who drove them to the title has not softened. If anything, the bar has gone up.

Retaining the Premier League is one of the toughest tricks in modern football. Arsenal do not need reminding. Every opponent raises their game. Every mistake feels bigger. Every point dropped is framed as the start of a slide.

Gyökeres is clear-eyed about that reality.

“You can think about it [starting the season as champions] in a million different ways,”

he said.

“If it is harder or not I don’t know but it will be difficult to win the league, even if you won it last season it is still a big challenge.

“It is the best league in the world and a lot of teams are in very good shape with very good players. We won last season and we will try to win it this season as well.”

No grand declarations. No talk of dynasties. Just a blunt acceptance that the climb starts again.

On Sunday, at the Community Shield, Arsenal get their first real foothold. Friendly or not, Gyökeres has already decided how seriously he’s taking it. The only question now is whether his team can match that tone from the very first whistle of a season where everyone will be coming for them.