CHRIS SUTTON: Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta won’t be too worried if they lose the Community Shield on Sunday as Liverpool’s win last year proves the match means little

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta won’t get too carried away with themselves as one of them walks away from Wembley on Sunday with the trophy under their arm.

For them, this game is all about building match fitness and tinkering with formations and personnel ahead of the start of the season.

Last year’s final between Liverpool and Manchester City proved that you can never read too much into the Community Shield results.

The Merseyside men then won 3-1 and Darwin Nunez stole the show in the new boys’ battle against Erling Haaland.

But then City won the treble and Haaland scored 36 league goals in the league.

Mikel Arteta hopes to come out of the match unscathed after losing to Gabriel Jesus

Liverpool won the Community Shield last season but had a poor campaign in the league

Liverpool subsequently missed out on Champions League football and Nunez failed to reach double figures in the Premier League.

There will, of course, be interest in Guardiola taking on his former protégé, but in the end this game will not define the season.

It’s about the bigger picture and the main concern for both managers will be to come out of the match unscathed, especially for Arteta who has already lost Gabriel Jesus to injury.

Of course, winning a trophy is never wrong.

However, I can’t think of any player who considers the Community Shield a great honor – it’s really nothing more than a glorified friendly.