Liverpool vs Manchester City

Leicester City’s King Power Stadium forms the backdrop for a blockbuster Community Shield showdown between Liverpool and Manchester City.

Liverpool’s last Community Shield success dates back to 2006, with the ‘Reds’ losing both subsequent appearances in the showpiece event, including a disheartening penalty shoot-out defeat to Man City in 2019. However, only Manchester United (21) and Arsenal (16) have more Community Shield titles under their belt than Liverpool (15). Keen to avenge last season’s Premier League heartbreak that crushed their quadruple dream, Jurgen Klopp will be looking to extend his side’s three-game unbeaten H2H streak across all competitions (W1, D2). Despite losing long-serving stalwart Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, the Merseysiders will feel safe and sound on the back of Darwin Nunez’s £85m arrival from Benfica. Nunez’s poker of second-half goals in a scintillating 5-0 romping of RB Leipzig in a pre-season fixture promises great things in the future.

In the meantime, Manchester City pulled off an out-of-this-world second-half comeback to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on the final day of last Premier League season to retain domestic supremacy, courtesy of a single-point lead on runners-up Liverpool. Despite overseeing his side score a staggering 150 goals across all competition last season, manager Pep Guardiola opened his checkbook to sign the world’s most promising striker Erling Haaland this summer. Only 12 minutes into his Man City debut, the Norwegian prodigy netted a winning goal over familiar foes Bayern Munich in a mouth-watering pre-season friendly. Haaland’s attacking impact could have a significant bearing on this fixture, as the last three meetings between Liverpool and Man City featured 4+ goals.