Kyle Walker reaction shows Man City strength despite Arsenal defeat

Manchester City were the only team to qualify for the Community Shield but somehow ended up losing it.

The Premier League champions and FA Cup winners had their dreams of a Septuple shattered as Arsenal scored an equaliser in the 101st minute of the game before going on to win the penalty shootout. A City team well below their best were transformed by the introduction of Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden in the second half and Cole Palmer stepped up, yet just as the blue confetti was being prepared it turned on its head to red.

This is the first glimpse of what the Premier League season may hold for an audience that has been starved of football and its compelling narrative for about, erm, six weeks, so the temptation to overreact to the return of top-flight football can be big: remember all those piping hot takes about Erling Haaland after his miss against Liverpool? There is also an uncertainty as to how important a fixture this actually is; Pep Guardiola has said before he will stay on holiday if it doesn't count as a trophy, yet at the same time they always go into it well short of their best.

The magnitude this season was amplified because of City's achievements last season, setting them up to win three competitions before the calendar year is out and turn a Treble into a Septuple of sorts. City's hierarchy have spoken about them enough since the Champions League final to know the desire to win them is strong.

Also read: Man City player ratings vs Arsenal as De Bruyne and Phil Foden good

At the same time, the team were deliberately deprived of tens of thousands of the supporters that had roared them on the last time they were at Wembley and then a week later in Istanbul. A boycott over a daft kick-off time that gave