The annual English Football Association Community Shield is the warm-up to the Premier League season. It features the reigning EPL title winners (Man U) and FA Cup Champions (Chelsea) in a match at Wembley Stadium. Here’s a closer look at the match on Sunday. The live blog coverage will begin about 30 minutes (9:30 US Eastern, 2:30 PM London time) before kick-off.
Manchester United v Chelsea – Sunday – 3 PM GMT (10 AM Eastern US) – Community Sheild
Both teams have looked good in preseason matches, especially Chelsea who won the World Football Challenge in the USA against Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Club America. Man U recently played Valencia at home and had a solid 2-0 victory. The rosters have not changed dramatically from last season so the team will be very familiar with each other and it should be a very competitive match. Man U lost Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo while Chelsea didn’t lose any major palyers.
While Sir Alex Ferguson is arguably the best manager in England, Chelsea appears to be in great form during the preseason. Man U still have plenty of talent without Ronaldo but its impossible to replace a player of that caliber. A close match that could go to penalties but Chelsea will edge Man U with a second half goal. Prediction – Chelsea wins 2-1
