Community Shield preview: Man City vs Man Utd
Manchester vibes in the area! The new season looms – but before the real action starts in earnest, City and United resume hostilities at Wembley on Saturday for the Community Shield.
These two teams met in the final domestic game of the previous season, Man United earning an unexpected victory over Man City in the FA Cup that saved Erik ten Hag’s job.
Ten Hag already on borrowed time?
But that trophy aside, United had a mediocre season even by their own recent standards, the team finishing eighth in the Prem.
Can Ten Hag put the previous campaign’s missteps behind him and make this one a season to remember for the Red Devils? Or is the former Ajax boss already on borrowed time?
And how about Man City? Will Pep Guardiola’s side win a fifth league title on the bounce? Will Erling Haaland put a slightly disappointing second season behind him with his most goal-packed showing to date?
And will Pep finally bid farewell to Manchester at the end of the season, giving everyone else a chance to win something?
Whatever happens over the coming months, Saturday’s low stakes curtain-raiser at Wembley probably won’t tell us a whole lot about how things are going to play out for either team.
Last season, for the record, Arsenal won against City in a penalty shootout, after the match had ended 1-1 after full time. In fact, City have failed to win in any of their last three appearances in the Community Shield, losing to Liverpool in 2022, and Leicester a year earlier.
New signing Yoro is out with a foot injury
United are 7/2 to win, which may sound tempting considering they overcame City to land the FA Cup last season. City have won six of the last eight meetings between these two sides though.
In terms of current form, United warmed up for this one with a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool in a friendly in the USA. Outside of results, the side have also had a few other setbacks to deal with in pre-season.
New signing Leny Yoro picked up a foot injury that will sideline him for three months, while Rasmund Hojlund has a hamstring strain.
City scored plenty of goals in their own pre-season friendlies in the US, even if they only won one game, a 4-2 victory over Chelsea. The club have also agreed a deal to sell striker Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for £75m.
Guardiola’s team, as ever, are heavily odds on for the victory, despite not having a great recent record in this competition.
Maybe a better bet is taking Utd to win at least one half at 6/4; you could also consider backing City to score under 1.5 goals at 29/20. Over their last four Community Shield appearances, City have scored a total of just three goals.
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