 Manuel Pellegrini, the manager of Manchester City, said before the game that winning the Shield "would be the ideal start to the campaign." He was conscious of his team's poor start to the previous season and wanted them to do better, particularly away from home. Pellegrini did not see the game against Arsenal as a "friendly", and expected his opponents to provide a good test for Manchester City in the Shield match and thereafter in the league season. He was satisfied overall with the club's transfer activity during the summer, in particular praising goalkeeper Willy Caballero. When asked about Wenger's comments about Manchester City, he retorted: "As a manager we have enough problems with our own teams to be talking about other teams." Pellegrini expressed his belief that Lampard's transfer was not done by underhand tactics – "we didn ’ t spend any money in bringing him from New York City to Manchester City," and added the player was not offered a contract to remain at Chelsea.
