Chelsea take on Manchester City in the traditional curtain-raiser that is the Community Shield on Sunday afternoon. City stormed to a record-breaking Premier League triumph last season, while Chelsea beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
It’s been all change at Chelsea since though, as Antonio Conte has been replaced by Maurizio Sarri as manager, who’s taken Jorginho with him from Napoli. It’s been a tumultuous summer for the Blues, with still no clarity on the futures of star trio Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard or Willian, while they’ve been slow to acquire their targets, with just Jorginho and Rob Green arriving at the club. There have been rumours of a change in ownership and it could be a long season if things don’t go well.
As for City, they’re fresh off a title triumph and they’ll be raring to go again. Retaining their title will prove to be a tough challenge as it’s been almost a decade since Manchester United retained theirs under Sir Alex Ferguson. City dominated Chelsea in both meetings last season, but winning 1-0 on both occasions.
Chelsea vs. Manchester City Predictions
The Community Shield is always a tough game to predict, but I can see Chelsea winning this one. They’ll be a lot fresher than City, will have a stronger squad to choose from as they had fewer players participating in Russia. It’ll be tough, but it’s a lottery to predict and I can see Chelsea coming out on top. There’ll be plenty of goals in it.
Chelsea vs. Manchester City Betting Tips
Head to Head
- Chelsea are looking to win the Community Shield for the first time since 2009 when they beat Manchester United 4-1 on penalties. They’ve failed to win any of their last four appearances in the Community Shield.
- Manchester City last lifted the Community Shield in 2012, defeating this year’s opponents Chelsea 3-2 in a fixture that was played at Villa Park.
- This will be the third meeting between Chelsea and Manchester City at Wembley, with the Citizens winning the most recent one in April 2013 (2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final).
- Chelsea have lost each of their last two games against Manchester City. They haven’t lost three in succession against them since September 2010.
- Pep Guardiola has previously managed on four occasions at Wembley (W3 D1), with all four games coming in a different competition (Champions League in 2011, FA Cup in 2017, League Cup and Premier League in 2018).
- Manchester City have won their last two matches at Wembley, both in 2017-18 – beating Spurs 3-1 in April and Arsenal 3-0 in the League Cup final in February. They haven’t won three consecutive matches at Wembley since March 1970.
- Chelsea have won 20 matches at Wembley Stadium – only Spurs (32), Man Utd (23), Arsenal (21) have won more times.
- Only one of Chelsea’s last 17 goals (excl. OG’s) in games played at Wembley has been scored by an Englishman (John Terry vs Spurs – League Cup final March 2015), including each of the last 12 netted by non-English players.
- Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero has scored five goals in his last five appearances against Chelsea, including a hat-trick in April 2016.
- No Manchester City player has scored more goals at Wembley Stadium than Sergio Aguero (3 – level with Yaya Toure).
Chelsea Team News
Ruben Loftus-Cheek seems set to stay at Chelsea this season and could feature in Sunday’s game. As could Jorginho, who turned down a move to City earlier this summer in order to follow Maurizio Sarri to Stamford Bridge.
Manchester City Team News
Riyad Mahrez could make his competitive City debut after overcoming an ankle injury suffered during the win over Bayern Munich. Benjamin Mendy could also make his first competitive appearance for City since last September. However, there’ll be no Kevin de Bruyne, who’s returned to training, but won’t feature in Sunday’s game.
