Leicester City faces Manchester City in the FA Community Shield final. The match will be played on Saturday, August 7th at Wembley Stadium (London)
Leicester City played four friendly matches during the preseason, in which it won only one victory. The team beat Villarreal in the last test game (3-2). However, the victory was overshadowed by an injury to the central defender Wesley Fofana. The player has a fibula fracture, so he will miss at least the beginning of the season. Fofana's injury is a big problem for the Foxes. Last season, this 20-year-old player was the regular center defender, along with Caglar Söyuncu and Johnny Evans. And this problem was exacerbated by Johnny Evans' pain in the leg. The player missed the end of the season and healed the injury in the summer. Moreover, Evans missed the preseason and did not get in shape for the first matches of the new championship. A more likely replacement for Fofana and Evans is Wilfred Ndidi, who will be moved from midfield to the center of defense. Ndidi's position will be closed by Boubakary Soumare, who came from Lille this summer.
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Manchester City has positions that need to be strengthened. For example, the team has only one center forward Gabriel Jesus. The Citizens can count on many wingers, but only Sterling, Marez, Torres, and Foden are the regulars. None of these players became the top scorer in the last Premier League. Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan scored the most goals. Guardiola's concept assumed that the team played without clean forwards, and any footballer could score thanks to complex positional football with hybrid roles. These tactics brought the team the champion’s title, but Man City scored less than 95 goals for the first time since 2017/18. However, the club managed to complete the transfer of Grealish, and this will be a serious strengthening for the Citizens, as he was one of the best players in the previous championship.
It is difficult to predict the outcome of the upcoming final. Both teams have not played official matches yet, and one cannot assess their real playing shape. Beyond that, there are some uncertainties with the lineups. It remains to be seen how Leicester will solve the problem with the injury of their regular defender, and Man City was strengthened by a very cool player at the last moment. In my opinion, there are more chances to correctly predict the number of goals. Since both teams are just returning to the pitch after the off-season, they won't show high speeds and intensity. Leicester's problem with central defenders will also affect the production. The team will try to play more carefully, protecting the weakened areas.
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 goals scored
