Community Shield

Chelsea and Manchester United lock horns yet again at Wembley for the Community Shield. The lure of silverware is lesser, but the intensity of the battle will be high as always. The winner of this tie, will go back home with a psychological edge over its opponents as the Barclays premier League is moving closer to its start. The last time these two sides met in a similar fixture, Chelsea went on to win, through penalties.

The friendly games of the two clubs saw them produce some indifferent form. United faltered twice with their porous defence conceding as many as 5 goals in three games inspite of their convincing victories in two of those three games. Chelsea has had an abysmal pre season, succumbing to defeats to Ajax amongst three clubs. In their defense however, Chelsea fielded a relatively immature squad. Yossi Benayon has been Chelsea’s lone recruit, whereas their rivals have signed Chicharito and Chris Smalling, two young players with immense potential.

Both the managers will be looking to kick start his 2010 campaign in a bright way, and the Community shield provides the perfect opportunity for the same. Chelsea has trimmed its squad considerably, whereas United have hardly bolstered their midfield.

Chelsea will be missing the services of Petr Cech for Sunday’s class with the Czech keeper ruled out for the first weeks of the new season. Ross Turnbull should find his place between the sticks, with Ancelloti expected to name an unchanged side that played Hamburg last week. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka will resume their strike partnership and this game might see Yossi Benayon donning the colours of Chelsea for the first time in a competitive game.

Sir Alex Ferguson on the other hand, has a myriad of options at his disposal. Boasting of an impressive forward line up of Dimitar Berbatov, Rooney, Owen, Chicharito, Macheda, United possess an attack that can unlock any defense. He is most likely to go in for a typical 4-4-2 formation with Berbatov and Rooney at the helm of things.

Prediction

Preseason games tend to throw a lot of surprises and consequently it is tough to make a call. These are two sides that have played great games in the past. We can expect a rusty encounter with a lot of challenges, with much of the ball loitering around in the midfield area. It will probably again go down to penalties, where United might pip Chelsea this time around.

Chelsea 1 – 1 Manchester United (Manchester United winning on Penalties)

Tags: Chelsea, Community Shield, Football, Manchester United, Sports, Sports World, Wembley