Betfred Free Bets for the FA Community Shield: Arsenal v Man City on August 16th

August 15, 2026

by Emma Harrison

New season? Check. Subplot featuring a new manager for one of the sides? Check. Betfred free bets to the value of £50. Check. Let’s look at the Community Shield in greater depth.

This weekend’s curtain-raiser for the English football season features the sides that finished first and second in the Premier League last season. Manchester City made up for missing out on the title by winning the FA Cup, but they then lost talismanic manager Pep Guardiola, who has chosen to take a break from football – so there’s plenty of intrigue here.

Can City do it without Pep?

Maresca worked under Pep as a coach for some years at Manchester City, so he’s not in an unfamiliar setting and he knows how things work. But he is his own man and presumably will have his own plan, and this is a first chance to see what it looks like. The top UK betting sites are in agreement that City start the season as second favourites to regain the title from Arsenal, who are the team to beat. This game won’t tell us everything about the season to come, but there will be some clues.

For Arsenal, it is very much a case of “let’s go again”. Manager Mikel Arteta has silenced the doubters by delivering the top prize in English football; now he has to try to retain it. We’ll find out some degree of Arsenal’s readiness to do it all again here, although there’s a decent chance that players like Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice will take a back seat here after their run to the World Cup semi-finals with England. This may mean debuts for new men Christos Tzolis and Bruno Guimaraes. And if you choose to debut yourself at Betfred, you can pick up one of the top UK betting promotions.

Bet £10 Get £50 at Betfred

As one of the most long-serving betting sites in the UK, Betfred knows a thing or two about delivering for bettors. If you’re not already signed up there, now might be the time to change that. They’ve got a very interesting sign-up offer: when you become a Betfred customer and make an initial bet of £10, you’ll get £50 in Betfred free bets. Of course there are some terms and conditions to keep to, so let’s have a look at those.

Firstly, your qualifying bet needs to be at Evens or longer. So you can’t just bet £10 on Erling Haaland scoring: he always does and is likely to be odds-on to do so here. But it does allow you a lot of room to bet on realistic outcomes. Secondly, the bets are credited when the initial bet resolves. So if you do want to bet on the Community Shield with those free bets, make sure you’ve placed the qualifying bet on something that ends before 3 pm on Sunday. Additionally, the £50 comes as five separate bets: three £10 bets and a further two accumulators to the same value. And they all need to be used within seven days of crediting.

Make your Community Shield bets at Betfred

If you aren’t already a Betfred customer, it’s worth doing two things: first, checking out our Betfred review to get a feel for what they have to offer. And then click our links and banners to get over there and make use of their sign-up offer. This is undoubtedly one of the best betting offers currently available in the UK, and Betfred has oodles of other offers as well as a very diverse sportsbook. There has never been a better time to get signed up with this leading UK betting site, so check it out now.