The English football curtain-raiser takes place this Saturday at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium as the two giants of English football, and last seasons’ top 2 meet in the 2022 Community Shield, with both looking to edge ahead of the other before the season has even begun.

Klopp’s side had a chance for quadruple glory snatched away right at the death as City retained their Premier League crown and the Champions League final defeat, however a domestic cup double will be what they look to build on this season, and although the Community Shield isn’t often viewed as major silverware, make no mistake that Klopp will want this one under his belt.

City meanwhile are the reigning league champions looking to retain and add to that with their quest for European success ongoing. Adding major players in Haaland, Phillips and Alvarez, with more potentially still to come, they will be full of confidence this season, and will take great joy in edging past Liverpool in this competition.

Form

Preseason is of course a wild time in footballing terms, with results skewing expectations and surprise wins/losses coming thick and fast. These two sides have had a mixed bag of the preseason tours so far, and this will certainly be the biggest and most serious test they have ahead of the season starting next weekend.

Liverpool have had 2 wins and 2 losses, with dominant wins coming against RB Leipzig and Crystal Palace, while their 4-0 defeat to Manchester United and surprise 1-0 defeat most recently to Red Bull Salzburg have provided the aforementioned shock results this summer. Despite this, Klopp’s side will of course feel confident ahead of this one, having cup wins over City from last season still in their memory. In an interesting turn of events, this won’t be Liverpool’s final game before the season starts, as Strasbourg will be visiting Anfield just 24 hours after this game on the Sunday, although most of the squad to feature in Saturday’s game won’t be involved on the Sunday (so much for fixture congestion Jurgen).

Manchester City meanwhile have had only 2 notable preseason games, although their training camps under Pep will certainly have the players up to full fitness. They have wins over Club America and also German giants Bayern Munich in which Haaland netted the winner in stormy conditions in Green Bay. Unbeaten in preseason and their new striking machine on the scoresheet will give Pep all the confidence he needs for the season opener, and also going into this game against Liverpool where he will push his side to get his season off to a winning start.

Team News

Both sides have had issues in preseason with players’ fitness and injury, and I imagine both managers would love to rest some of their key players right before the season gets underway and wrap them in cotton wool, however they also need the playing time under their belt to ensure they can get off to a good start next weekend. That said, I imagine both will play their strongest line-ups and perhaps indicate their plans for the league openers from the outset, with most getting a full 90 minutes of game time in this game as the ultimate preparation.

Liverpool have struggled with several players in the summer break, as Alisson has suffered with an abdominal issue which Klopp will hope is not going to plague his season and effect his reliable no.1. It is hoped the Brazilian will be back to play in this fixture, but if Klopp has doubts then there’s no way he will risk him in this one and Adrian will likely be used between the sticks, as Kelleher has also been out with a slight injury during preseason.

Other players who are likely to miss out include Jota, Tsimikas and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who are all predicted to be out of contention for this game and their availability for the Premier League opening games will be discussed at a later date.

New man Nunez is expected to feature as he has been prominent in the earlier preseason games, having mixed success from an unsure debut against Manchester United, to bagging 4 against Leipzig.

Liverpool Predicted Line-up: Adrian, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Van Dijk, Matip, Thiago, Henderson, Fabinho, Salah, Diaz, Nunez

For Manchester City, they are in a similar situation in terms of preseason injuries, with Laporte guaranteed to be out, however Dias made a return in the Bayern victory to suggest he should be available. Meanwhile, Stones, Foden and Gundogan all missed the tour of America but should be back and available by the weekend.

The biggest discussion in terms of team selection will be around Haaland, and of course the focus will be on him heavily for this game. I think he will start with the Norwegian ahead of another new arrival, Alvarez, but perhaps we will see both on the field at some point during the game. Kalvin Phillips will also be one to keep an eye on, as he joined the champions this summer, but will have to become accustomed to Guardiola’s rotation as he fights for his place with big names like Rodri, Silva and De Bruyne who I expect to start as the midfield 3 in this game.

Manchester City Predicted Line-up: Ederson, Walker, Cancelo, Ake, Dias, Rodri, Silva, De Bruyne, Grealish, Mahrez, Haaland

Predictions

The Community Shield is one of the toughest games to predict all season, as previous editions have been seen as more of an elite-level preseason friendly, while others have gone all-out to ensure their side get off to a winning start to the season. Consequently, we are often left unsure of what starting line-up will be used form the outset, while also knowing what type of form most players will be in for this clash.

Despite this uncertainty, perhaps more than ever, knowing both sides and their charismatic managers, they won’t allow their side to slack off. Guardiola isn’t happy when his side have won by 6 goals, and Klopp was visibly irritated and his usual self in a recent preseason matchup against Red Bull Salzburg. Having a chance to come up against what many believe will be the top 2 sides in the league yet again will provide us as viewers with hopefully a feisty encounter in which both sides go for the victory and put on a show as we have had in previous meetings.

Combining the uncertainty and heavy demands of both coaches, I am predicting over 2.5 goals in this game, as both sides may have slip-ups and may make a few errors that lead to scoring opportunities, while their attacking power will put fear into defenders still in preseason mode.

I believe that Manchester City will win this one inside 90 minutes and unlike previous cup meetings we won’t be requiring anything after this to settle the tie. My reasoning for this is that I have seen Liverpool slipping up already in preseason including their disastrous encounter with Manchester United, and also their recent loss to Red Bull Salzburg. Although preseason results often mean very little, and I doubt this will have any impact on the league season openers, in this match-up they may still be clicking back into the team unit which has been so dominant, and any sign of fatigue or hint of being underprepared will be exposed by Guardiola’s men, and with Haaland looking to feature in his first locally televised game and first in the UK for his new side, he’ll be up for causing chaos for the Liverpool defence. Therefore, our final prediction will be that the Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland will get on the scoresheet as he has already in preseason.

If you agree with our predictions, you can get decent odds of 11/8 for a City win inside 90 mins, 8/11 for over 2.5 goals, and 6/4 for Haaland to score anytime. Alternatively, you could risk big and place a 17/4 treble if you agree with our 3 predictions. Do gamble responsibly and make sure to be sensible this season with the influx of betting offers and adverts heading our way as the season kicks off.

What do you think? Are we being bold, or just plain stupid? Head over to Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) and let us know what you make of our predictions and tell us how you think Saturday’s game will play out as well as what you’re looking forward to this coming season.