IT’S rare to have the Community Shield match – the traditional curtain-raiser to the new English Premier League (EPL) season – take place in the month of July, but with football leagues set to take a lengthy mid-season break due to the Fifa World Cup, it means the domestic club campaigns will start earlier and end later.

That’s good news for football-starved fans, who can sink their teeth into the latest chapter of the scintillating rivalry between Manchester City and Liverpool, the teams set to contest the Community Shield at Leicester City’s 32,000-seater King Power Stadium on Saturday (Jul 30) – 11.55 pm kick-off, Singapore time.

It’s a humble venue for such a high-profile fixture, but organisers had to move the game away from Wembley Stadium in London – the first time they have done so in a decade – as Wembley is hosting the Women’s Euro 2022 final on Sunday.

With Manchester City and Liverpool expected to tussle once again for the EPL title, BT Weekend analyses the chances of each of the 2 clubs as they look to gain a psychological edge over the other by claiming the first piece of silverware of the 2022/23 season.

Pep’s serial winners

When Manchester City pipped Liverpool on the final day of last season in dramatic fashion to win a fourth EPL crown in 5 seasons, manager Pep Guardiola claimed his team had rightfully earned “legend status” for their remarkable achievements.

Not content with being England’s undisputed top dog, the Citizens have strengthened their squad over the summer, with the marquee signing being Norwegian striker Erling Braut Haaland, a 22-year-old goal machine who arrived from Borussia Dortmund having scored 86 goals in just 89 appearances for the German side. He came with a £51 million (S$85.7 million) price tag, but the immense talent that he possesses could well make that fee seem like an absolute bargain.

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Guardiola has also made improvements in other positions, bringing in German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, Argentina forward Julian Alvarez and English midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Manchester City had a short but productive pre-season tour of the United States, playing 2 games and winning both as they defeated Club America 2-1 in Texas and Bayern Munich 1-0 in Wisconsin.

Matches against Liverpool are usually hot-tempered and full of goals, as evidenced by their 3 meetings last season – both EPL games ended in 2-2 draws, while Liverpool edged their FA Cup semi-final in a 3-2 thriller.

Reds ready for rematch

Liverpool had a record-breaking season in 2021/22, playing every single game of all 4 tournaments they contested. The Reds reached 3 cup finals and won 2 of those (the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup), and were runners-up in the EPL and the Champions League.

Liverpool lacked the killer touch in several key matches, and Jurgen Klopp will hope that his top summer acquisition, the Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, will make the difference up front, especially after Sadio Mane departed for Bayern Munich. 

The 23-year-old Nunez may have a hefty £85 million price tag on his shoulders, but he prefers to let his boots do the talking, as evidenced by the 48 goals he netted in 85 games in 2 seasons for Portuguese side Benfica.

Liverpool’s other 2 newbies are Portuguese winger Fabio Carvalho and Scottish defender Calvin Ramsay.

The Reds racked up the frequent-flyer miles on their pre-season tour of Asia earlier this month – they lost 4-0 to Manchester United in Bangkok before beating Crystal Palace 2-0 in Singapore.

They then returned to Europe and played 2 more friendlies in Austria, defeating Leipzig 5-0 (with 4 goals from Nunez) and losing 1-0 to Salzburg.

Liverpool are the third-most successful team in the history of the Community Shield, winning it 15 times, just behind Manchester United’s haul of 21 trophies and Arsenal’s 16.