The FA Cup Champions, Liverpool will take on EPL Champions, Manchester City in the Community Shield in Leicester on Saturday and we take a look at this season curtain raiser to the English season from a betting angle.

For the first time in 9 years we go to a different venue other than Wembley Stadium and it is the King Power Stadium in Leicester that plays host to this intriguing contest.  Last season it was Leicester who won the Community Shield beating Manchester City 1-0, but Manchester City had won 2 of the previous 3 Cups.

LIVERPOOL

A look back at last season and Liverpool won the FA Cup and the EFL Cup and just failed to beat Manchester City in what was a thrilling Title race.  Sadly they were also beaten by Real Madrid in the Final of the UEFA Champions League.

MACHESTER CITY

Manchester City always held the advantage over Liverpool heading down the straight in the EPL and they held on having to make a last day come back against Aston Villa to secure the Title.  The rest of their season was a bit disappointing particularly their Round of 16 exit to West Ham in the FA Cup and their second leg collapse against Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League where they had looked well poised to go through after winning a high scoring first leg.

PRE-SEASON

Both teams have made some off-season transfers in and out and it is always interesting to see how they fare in the first big game this season.  There have been a number of warm up games with Liverpool showing mixed results and City have just had one key friendly against Bayern Munich with a narrow victory.  Not much should be read into these matches though.

HEAD TO HEAD

The last time these teams met in head-to-head action was in April of this year when Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-2 in the FA Cup Semi-Final.  Both League encounters finished 2-2 and both teams have found the net in the last 4 meetings against each other in all competitions with over 3.5 goal backers collecting profits in the last 4 head-to-heads and 6 of the last 7.  That suggests we are in for a high scoring game, but interestingly enough the last 5 Community Shield Finals have seen under 2.5 goal backers collect profits.

BETTING – Click here to bet

Liverpool 15/8

Draw 5/2

Manchester City 29/20

SUGGESTED BETS: 

Over 2.5 goals at 8/10

I am going to side with recent head-to-head history over recent Community Shield history and suggest we are going to get goals in this one.

First Goal Scorer, Darwin Nunez at 6/1

Nunez has looked in prolific form since joining Liverpool all be it we only have the friendly matches to go on.  I have a feeling he is going to be a big hit this season and I am taking him to open the scoring here.

Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change