As every year, the Community Shield game is played a little before the Premier League season starts. This time, it’s a derby of Manchester, between United and City
The game will start on Sunday August 7th 2011 at 14:30 UK Time.
Manchester United
Manchester United won all 6 pre-season friendly games, all of where from their tour in United States. Most noticeable victory was over Barcelona in Washington D.C. with 2:1, and despite the fact Barcelona had a lot of reserves in the squad, United played very good, with creativity and style. One thing that many fans noticed is the great performance of United’s new goalkeeper David de Gea. He seems like a worthy replacement of Van der Sar who put an end to his career. United scored 26 goals in those 6 games and conceded only 3, an admirable ratio. The FA Community Shield is something Manchester United takes seriously, winning 18 of them, leading with 3 in front of Liverpool and 6 in front of Arsenal. Most recent title were in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2010.
Manchester City
Manchester City played 5 pre-season friendlies, winning 4 of those and drawing one. The team scored a total of 11 goals and conceded 2, an impressive ratio, even though City didn’t manage to score as many goals as United. Let’s not forget that the most recent meeting between both teams was in the FA Cup semi-final, where Manchester City won, and then won the cup. Carlos Tevez will be missing on Sunday for this game, but he also missed that particular FA Cup semi-final, and City still won it. In terms of Community Shield titles, City is far behind their neighbor, winning only 3, last one in 1972. The new City strike Sergio Aguero will start on the bench in the game on the 7th, but our hopes are to see him in action.
Prediction
Despite City’s recent success over United in the FA Cup, I believe United are in a wonderful shape at the moment, with most starter players fit to play this game. And then there’s the tradition of Man United winning the most Community Shields (18).
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Back to the game, my prediction would be a victory Manchester United, for several reasons. First the great tradition of winning the Community Shield, with the most recent victory in 2010 over Chelsea. Then judging by the performance in all pre-season friendly games, I think the team is ready for hell of a season. Therefore I will back United in this derby of Manchester.
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