Community Shield predictions

 ‘The curtain raiser’ and a chance to put another piece of silverware in the club’s display cabinet.

A tasty appetiser for the season ahead.

Just a glorified friendly? OR, worse than that, a completely meaningless game?

If you win, it means something to a lot of fans and…YAAAAY! Celebrations and smiles all round!

If you lose, it’s often met with a shrug of the shoulders and a, “Meh…it’s next week and beyond that counts more”.

Whatever your opinion is of this annual fixture, it’s here; we’ve sold out our 31,500 allocation, despite the very-understandable furore from City fans about the late, Sunday KO time, and both sides are likely to put out strong line-ups; two sides who finished 1^st & 2^nd in, what is generally considered to be, the best league in the world.

If all of that doesn’t get your mouth watering even just a little then this is definitely not a fixture for you and you should-instead, perhaps, use the time to prepare the Sunday tea before settling down to watch Countryfile or whatever.

v Arsenal

Wembley

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which for me, blog wise, was our F.A. Cup final win over Manyoo: 10/11).

A very fluid 3-2-4-1 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Grealish_________________________________Alvarez

 

___________Silva________________Foden__________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Laporte__________________________________Walker

____________Dias_______________Stones__________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Phillips, Kovacic, Palmer, McAtee & De Bruyne.

(The now-usual 9 substitutes ‘in there’ and 6 are allowed to be used for this match).

This is one of those fixtures that’s so difficult to read, starting-11 wise.

Ederson, in preparation for our first league outing just 5-days later, ‘gets this one’, I reckon.

An interchangeable back-3 / 4 that I see being made up of Aymeric, Ruben, John & Kyle; with John, of course, the one occasionally stepping into midfield whenever possible and only if Pep chooses to play that system against last season’s league runners-up.

Rodders to sit the deepest of the midfielders while a quartet of Jack, Bernardo, Phil & Julian make up our main creative / attacking department.

Erling to start ‘up top’.

There are a couple on the bench at least who, had they had been 100%, are likely to have been handed starts. However, as far as I know that’s where they’ll start today.

Stefan is the back-up stopper; Rico, Manuel & Nathan are the defenders on the side; with Nathan being one of the two that I’ve just mentioned (recent tight calf / fatigue). Kalvin, Mateo, Cole, James & Kevin make up both a large and rather impressive-looking midfield options in ‘the 9’, with Kevin being the other player not quite 100% after suffering a Grade 3 Hamstring tear in our very last outing of the season during a certain match in Istanbul.

Notable absences:

-       Joao Cancelo – Not selected. I could well be wrong here but regardless of what Joao himself wants regarding his-immediate future and how his manager feels about the Portuguese wing-back’s situation & mindset; recent rumours are circulating once more about a possible summer move and, so, of the available players to fill the bench; I’m guessing Cancelo will be one to miss out despite his inclusion in pre-season games.

-       Sergio Gomez – Not selected.

-       Josko Gvardiol – Not ready for this fixture following his medical and subsequent transfer very recently. I think we’re highly likely to see the Croatian in the squad, at least, for our league opener this-coming Friday.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep.

Result? Once again, this fixture is always a hard one to call. Our North London opponents have had both a little more rest and preparation time than us but we looked okay in our three, pre-season matches for the most part, so I thought; plus nearly a week back home since then; training and getting back to something like ‘a routine’.

The Gunners have also had some of their preparations disrupted following a recent injury announcement to former City forward, Gabriel Jesus, who has had to have corrective surgery on a knee issue. Other than that, however, I believe they go into this game with a clean bill of health.

It’s almost a case of a ‘toss of the coin’ but I’m going for a City win.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: As we have witnessed so many terrible images from both across Europe as well as across the Atlantic in recent weeks where places and property have been on fire due to the high temperatures and bone-dry ground / vegetation; it’s been a story of wet, wet and even MORE wet over the last 6 or 7 weeks in the UK. Thankfully, for those both attending and playing in Sunday’s, late-afternoon game, it’s both a largely dry and partly sunny one. 18C / 64F is the official high temperature but you can often notch that up a couple of degrees inside our national stadium. It’s gonna be a blowy day but once inside, I can’t imagine the high sides of the stadium allowing much of that in; certainly not at pitch level, I wouldn’t have thought. There are some showers knocking around both just before KO and during the match but fans leaving the stadium should be treated to some evening sunshine on their way home. Mixed day but better than of late.

Solidarity