Viktor Gyökeres just said what every Arsenal fan wanted to hear about facing Man City

Fair to say, this pre-season has not entirely gone to plan for Arsenal, from a results point of view. On Sunday, the Gunners were beaten 3-2 by Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup. Ethan Nwaneri was on target, set up by Christos Tzolis, and Viktor Gyökeres converted a penalty, but they were denied a draw because Gabriel Martinelli wrongly had an equalised disallowed for offside right at the end.

This was a second defeat in five days for Mikel Arteta's team, also beaten by 3-1 Real Betis in Dublin on Wednesday. Arsenal conclude pre-season against Cesc Fàbregas' Como back at the Emirates this Wednesday night, before the competitive action begins, that is at least according to Gyökeres.

Speaking to reports in the mixed zone following Sunday's match, when asked if the squad will treat next Sunday's FA Community Shield against Manchester City as a friendly, the Swedish centre-forward seemed quite surprised by the question:

"Treat the game against City [as a friendly]? I don't know what other people think but of course we want to win that game for sure. There's no question about that. "

Viktor Gyökeres on the Community Shield

When the reporter, having been pushed, stated that the Community Shield has "a little cup up for grabs", adding "it's seen as the last pre-season friendly", Gyökeres seemed shocked and frankly baffled by this line of questioning. It is a very English view point that the Community Shield is a glorified friendly. Across other European countries, their respective Supercups are very much viewed as major trophies worth fighting for.

The Supercopa de España and and Supercoppa Italiana, for example, have been expanded to four-team tournaments that, very lucratively, are now played in Saudi Arabia. Elsewhere this month, PSG and Lens will contest the Trophée des Champions, while Borussia Dortmund will meet Bayern Munich in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup, both of which will be battled out like any other final.

In England however, the zeitgeist is that it's only the Community Shield, a fixture that no one really cares about. It is speculated that this is due to the presence of the League Cup, a tertiary domestic cup competition that few other major European nations has. Well, Portugal is a rare example of a country that does still have a League Cup in operation, albeit now in a truncated form.

This has not diluted the importance of their Supercup, known as the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, with Gyökeres' Sporting beaten 4-3 by FC Porto in Aveiro after extra time two summers ago. Thus, expect Gyökeres and his team mates to approach Sunday's clash with Man City with the upmost seriousness.

Arsenal's most-recent appearance in the Community Shield came three years ago, also against Manchester City. That day at Wembley, Leandro Trossard's deflected equaliser in the 11th minute of injury time forced a penalty shootout. Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri then both failed to convert from 12 yards, before Fábio Vieira, remember him, lashed home the winning kick into Stefan Ortega's top corner. The Gunners have now won the last five Charity Shields they've featured in, dating back to 2005.

This Sunday's rematch will be Enzo Maresca's first game in charge of the Citizens, taking over after Pep Guardiola's decade long reign came to an end. It will also take place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, because Wembley was already booked up by the Weeknd, as part of his After Hours til Dawn Tour.

Despite being played away from London, Arsenal sold out their initial allocation of 25,987 tickets. In recent days, a further allocation of 6,755 tickets have been snapped up by Gooners, after Man City returned around 25% of their own allocation. Thus, the Principality Stadium will almost be as red as on a Welsh rugby matchday, and try telling those 33,000 fans that it is merely a friendly. They'll likely have a similar reaction to that of Gyökeres.

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