The traditional curtain-raiser for the new English Premier League season, the FA Community Shield, is set to hold between 2020/21 FA Cup winners Leicester City and Premier League winners Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City raced to a third Premier League title in four years in the 2020/21 season.
Brendan Rodgers led the Foxes to their first FA Cup triumph and first major title since their unlikely league triumph in 2015/16, defeating ex-club Chelsea 1-0 in the final thanks to a thunderbolt of a strike by Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans.
LEICESTER CITY
The Foxes have made a couple of shrewd investments in the summer transfer window, completing deals for highly-rated Zambian striker Patson Daka from RB Salzburg, combative midfielder and French league winner Boubakary Soumare and experienced English left-back Ryan Bertrand.
The FA Cup champions had a less than ideal preseason, winning only one of four matches; the win came at a cost as as highly-rated 20-year-old French defender Wesley Fofana picked up a potential season-ending injury as he suffered a broken fibula bone in their 3-2 preseason win over Villarreal as they rounded up their preparations.
The Foxes are already without experienced central defender Johnny Evans after the Irishman suffered a foot injury.
Manager Rodgers made known his displeasure at the injury to Fofana, announcing that they would require the signing of a new central defender due to their shortage in the department following the exit of long-time captain Wes Morgan at the end of the 2020/21 season.
Rodgers is left with only Turkish defender Caglar Soyuncu as his senior centre back option, but the return of Filip Benkovic from his far from fruitful loan spell at OH Leuven can give Rodgers another option at the back.
Rodgers also has the option of utilising Ghanaian utility man Daniel Amartey in that role for the Community Shield against Manchester City.
Leicester City will also be without enterprising wingback Timothy Castagne after the Belgian fractured his face during Belgium’s Euro 2020 campaign.
MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been known to treat the Community Shield as the preseason game that it is, and would be expected to give ample playing time to exciting 18-year-old winger Sam Edozie who found the net in all of Manchester City’s three preseason matches.
The Cityzens also just shattered the British transfer record to bring Jack Grealish to the Etihad Stadium for £100 million, but it is widely expected that the Community Shield would come too soon for the 25-year-old midfielder. Guardiola has the luxury of picking from a full side as his side has no serious injury worries ahead of the Community Shield.
There is a good likelihood of Guardiola sticking to his False 9 tactic in the game with the exit of record goalscorer Sergio Aguero from the club at the end of the 2020/21 season and the late arrival of Gabriel Jesus from his participation in the Copa America with Brazil. The striker did not play a single minute for Manchester City in preseason.
Due to the participation of a bulk of his regular starters in various competitions over the summer, Guardiola may be forced to field a good number of U23s to prosecute the match against Leicester City.
KEY MEN
The experience of Jamie Vardy would prove considerably important for Leicester against Manchester City at Wembley, with his supporting acts of Kelechi Iheanacho and more recently, Patson Daka expected to be very involved in any good thing that comes from Leicester. Soyuncu’s experience at the back would also be important for his side as they aim to keep a free-scoring City side at bay.
For Manchester City, the duo of Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva along with Edozie are expected to carry the majority of their attacking threat, with support from Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan in midfield. Last season’s revelation Ruben Dias is also back with the squad, and will have to be at his best to stifle the attacking threats of Leicester City.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Leicester City inflicted a damaging 5-2 defeat on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in the league last season, with Vardy famously scoring a hat trick before City retaliated with a 2-0 win of their own at the King Power Stadium in the return leg. Both sides have faced each other 25 times, with Manchester City winning 13 times and the Foxes winning 6 times. Six of their meetings have ended in draws.
PUNTERS’ CORNER
To must fans who like betting on football and pundits, Manchester City are clear favourites for the win and have been given 1.90 odds of winning the match. A Leicester win has been pegged at 3.70 odds, and a draw has been pegged at 3.70 odds as well.
Both sides would be looking to start their respective seasons in the best way possible by picking up the first piece of silverware available in England. An explosive match is expected between two sides with hugely contrasting styles of play.
