While managerial changes provide unfamiliarity for some of Arsenal‘s rivals, it is hard to argue that some of those have every chance of boosting their title chances.

Chelsea, for example, have one of the most sought-after young managers in the game in Xabi Alonso, and also look to have bought well in the transfer market.

Former Liverpool midfielder Alonso, who famously led Bayer Leverkusen to a historic, unbeaten domestic double in the 2023-24 season, appears to have strengthened well, with a mixture of exciting young talent and experienced older heads.

England forward Morgan Rogers, 24, has arrived from Aston Villa for a club record £117m, while France defender Maxence Lacroix, 26, has joined from Crystal Palace for £52m.

Chelsea‘s new £47m full-back Marco Palestra, 21, has been one of the strongest performers in pre-season, while Premier League winners and veteran figures Jordan Henderson, 36, and Danny Welbeck, 35, have also been brought in to bring a youthful dressing room together and set standards.

Manchester City, now managed by Enzo Maresca following the departure of Guardiola at the end of last season, signed Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson from Manchester City for £116m and but appear set to lose Spain midfielder Rodri, who was player of the tournament at this summer’s World Cup. However, Chelsea‘s Enzo Fernandez could be set to replace him.

Manchester United strengthened their midfield while weakening a rival by signing Aston Villa‘s Youri Tielemans for £35m and also brought in fellow midfielder Andrey Santos from Chelsea for £48m, with the Brazilian having impressed in pre-season.

It is just three months since Villa lifted the Europa League, but much has changed since then with Rogers, Tielemans and Lucas Digne – who all started in the final – having all departed. Key incomings are Johan Manzambi from Freiburg (£59.5m) and Joao Gomes from Wolves for £38m, while Alejandro Garnacho has also arrived on loan from Chelsea.

There have been changes behind the scenes too at Villa, with three coaches having left including set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who moved to Chelsea.

Liverpool, champions two seasons ago, are now managed by Andoni Iraola and his side should be strengthened by the arrival of centre-back Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes for £60m, while versatile defender Ronald Araujo has joined on loan from Barcelona. The Reds have also brought in 22-year-old forward Victor Munoz, but results in pre-season have been mixed.

Tottenham will expect to be challenging towards the top end of the table after a difficult couple of seasons, and De Zerbi has been working hard to improve his squad, spending well over £200m to bring in Sandro Tonali from Newcastle (£100m), Mateus Fernandes from West Ham (£85m) and Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton (£52m).

Considering the current Premier League champions play in the game every season it is surprisingly rare for the Community Shield winners to go on to win the league.

Since the Premier League started in 1992-93, only eight of the 34 winners of the Charity or Community Shield have done so.

Five of those happened in a six-year spell from 2005 until 2010.

Manchester City, in 2019, were the last team to do so – and before that it was Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 2011.

Only one of the past 15 winners of the Community Shield have gone on to become champions that season.

Since 1992 the teams who lose the Community Shield have won more league titles that season – 10 in total, including Manchester City for three years in a row between 2021 and 2023.

Last year Crystal Palace beat Liverpool and ended up finishing 15th, although they did go on to win the Conference League. The Reds also had a disappointing domestic campaign, finishing fifth.

Some 47% of the time (16/34) the upcoming season’s Premier League winners had not been involved in the Community Shield – like Arsenal in 2025-26.

And 53% of the time (18/34) the Shield winners have finished above the losers in the league that season.

On 10 occasions the two teams have finished as the top two in the Premier League – with four of those times being the Shield winners top and the losers as runners-up.

Philadelphia Union and United States wonderkid Cavan Sullivan didn’t take a break this summer, even as the first team enjoyed a much-needed few weeks off for the World Cup

The first half of the season was a disaster. The Union went from first in 2025 to 30th in 2026, and head coach Bradley Carnell was fired as the team went their separate ways for the summer.

Having won a starting spot in the first team, Sullivan told the Union he wanted to keep playing and asked to keep training with the second team.

The kid who has a transfer pre-agreed to Manchester City when he turns 18 in two years, the kid who has been followed with a spotlight since he was 13 at academy and youth national team games, asked to go back to the second team instead of training alone or taking time off.

“During the World Cup, he was an animal in the way he trained,” Union sporting director Jon Scheer told The Athletic.

The Union II had a friendly lined up against Ivory Coast, who were based in the area for the World Cup. Sullivan asked to play in that, too, and excelled. He even posted a compilation of his highlights on social media. He is still a kid, after all.

Highlights of Cavan Sullivan vs The Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 First Team
Cavan held his own against a very physical team that just beat France👀

🎥 cavan.sull pic.twitter.com/JIEo9Re4yN

— USMNTContent (@USMNTContent) June 10, 2026

Since the team returned to training, with second-team head coach Ryan Richter elevated to interim boss of the first team, the Union has taken off. They won all three of their MLS games with Sullivan playing a central role. He started seven games in a row across all competitions before being rotated on Thursday in a dead rubber in the Leagues Cup. That choice was to keep him fresh for the more important league game on the weekend.

In short, Sullivan has leveled up from a promising young talent to a key contributor in all facets of the game. Not just his dazzling skill and intentionality on the ball, but off of it, too, in a pressing, high-energy team.

“That’s what I’m most proud of with Cavan: He’s happy when we win and when we lose, no matter how he plays, he’s not happy,” Scheer said. “That’s a really good sign for years to come.”

It does not take long watching Sullivan play to get swept up in the excitement.

Game time is coming more regularly now for the 16-year-old, having racked up almost 50 percent of his senior career minutes since the start of May.

It is giving Sullivan more opportunities to impress, and Richter has already seen enough to suggest that he trusts Sullivan to make a difference in the final third.

Sullivan’s influence on the Union is growing by the week. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)

Every time the play moves towards Sullivan, it feels as if something could happen. He is refreshingly direct, a zippy winger who has no fear when it comes to taking on defenders, able to dip left and right with short steps and devastating bursts of speed.

“He’s played with a lot of intent and confidence, he’s earned everything he’s got so far and is hungry for more,” Scheer said, reflecting on his recent success with the first team.

Here he is in a recent comeback win over Atlanta United, for example, picking up the pass from full-back Kai Wagner and instantly squaring up to his man. His first touch is positive, and he doesn’t hesitate before dropping a shoulder and darting to the byline, happy to rely on his pace to get round the defender. His path is blocked, but he sells Matthew Edwards the dummy and chops inside to fire a pass to Jovan Lukić on the edge of the box.

Barely five minutes later, he peels off into space on the opposite flank, shimmying both ways before cutting in and driving a low shot towards the far corner.

Sullivan is yet to score from outside the box in senior football, but the early signs are that he can pack a punch from distance, striking the ball consistently well. He is not shy about taking those shots on either, having unleashed 11 attempts from distance already this season, with 10 coming after he has ducked onto his stronger left foot, including the one below.

Sullivan’s natural enthusiasm catches the eye, and sees him drift all over the pitch to find fresh opponents to take on.

As we can see from the visual below, he is equally happy to run at defenders from either flank, while his rate of 5.1 take-ons per 90 minutes ranks seventh among MLS players this term.

Sullivan’s close control in tight spots also makes him tricky to tackle, capable of receiving passes under pressure and wriggling his way away from outstretched legs.

In another example from that Atlanta game, he carries the ball straight into a crowd of players, slinking away from three separate challenges before eventually being dispossessed. Although Sullivan can’t carry the ball towards the byline himself, the fact that he engages four opponents still leads to a half-chance for his team.

Given his positivity and youthful enthusiasm, Sullivan is understandably prone to mistakes.

The 16-year-old is desperate to leave an impression, and that bears out in the statistics: Around one in four of Sullivan’s passes are considered ‘progressive’ — a pass that moves the ball at least 25 percent closer to the opposition goal — while almost nine per cent of his carries include a take-on, the fourth-highest rate in the division.

So much of what he does is with the intention of attacking the opposition, which can lead to overplaying and forcing the issue at times.

Here he is holding onto the ball a little too long down the flank earlier in the first half, ignoring the overlapping run and giving up possession as he attempts one stepover too many…

…while he feels the ire of his teammate and older brother Quinn Sullivan, 22, at the back post after opting to go alone against Seattle, taking himself too wide and seeing his effort easily saved.

Cavan Sullivan’s decision-making can be worked on, but it is always worth giving talented players like him the freedom to make an impact, particularly at such a young age.

Given his natural dribbling ability and powerful strike on goal, meaningful attacking contributions should soon begin to surge.

“I’m really happy with what Ryan (Richter) and the staff have done,” Scheer said. “They’ve allowed Cavan to be different and special in moments of the game while still having standards and expectations of him within the team. Whether it’s against the ball, whether it’s some structural positioning with the ball. But we want Cavan to be Cavan.

“As well as he’s playing for such a young player, he’s got more in him. And he knows that. He wants to get better.

“Cavan just wants to be the best he can be — that’s how he approaches every training session and game, no matter who he’s with. That’s going to take him a long way.”