Community Shield 2012

Has there ever been a shorter break between football seasons? Most summers are torture for football fans, usually with endless gaps between that last balmy day in May and the first fresh Saturday of action in August, but 2012 has been a year like no other in sports. Since the last 5 minutes of madcap madness that saw Manchester City snatch their first title, we’ve had one of the best International tournaments in recent memory at Euro 2012, and if that wasn’t good enough, an Olympics to remember with as many sporting highlights as there were goals in the Premiership last season (that’s 1063 if anyone’s wondering). After all that – the closing ceremony takes place tonight –it’s almost surreal to be looking at the Community Shield today.

If you’d asked me who would spend more between Chelsea and Manchester City at the end of last year, I’d have been hard pushed to give you an answer, so to come around to this point with Chelsea predictably – with the benefit of hindsight - having loaded their squad with classy midfielders in a bid to launch a title challenge while Manchester City haven’t made a single signing barring Jack Rodwell (and even that just recently announced).

Many have been surprised at this lack of activity although it may not be all bad – see the upcoming team guide for more information- and it seems to be a sign that Manicni trusts the title winning squad to do it all again this season. And why shouldn’t he? Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero have all scored in pre-season, indicating that the side are in as good a place as they can be right now, with five friendly wins including impressive 2-0 triumphs over Arsenal and Wolfsburg.

Chelsea’s new talent is a big statement of intent and it’s painfully obvious that they were much better than their sixth placed finish last season (they gave up on the League a long way from the finish of the season with the Cup double in sight) and Eden Hazard, Marko Marin and Oscar are all players of the highest quality based on what we’ve seen so far. However they may need time to gel based on three successive defeats to the MLS All Stars, AC Milan and Championship outfit Brighton, and this is sure to be a harder task. They are more than capable of landing a blow against City, but ether they can keep what looks to be the more settled team out is the main question and City look set to prove themselves top dogs again.

Both teams have scored in eight of the last nine Community Shields and it’s not hard to see the same score occurring again, so the 4/6 on that happening again looks to be a solid wager, along with the 3/1 on them winning while conceding, as well as the 17/2 on a 2-1 win, looks like the way to go.

Advice

3 pts Both teams to score (4/6 general)

1 pt 2-1 Manchester City (17/2 general)

1 pt Manchester City to win and Both teams to score (3/1 Coral)