Venue: Wembley Stadium
Kick off: 4pm
Super Eagles winger, Ahmed Musa, will be hoping to maintain his goal scoring form as Leicester City face Manchester United in Sunday’s 94th FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium (4pm Nigerian time).
The pacy winger announced his arrival with a superb brace against ‘almighty’ Barcelona at the International Championship Cup on Tuesday.
The Foxes had to cough out a club record £15 million to seal CSKA Moscow’s enterprising and pacy winger to add more attacking bit to their squad this summer and he wasted no time by paying them back with two classy goals despite losing 4-2 against Barcelona.
It will be Musa’s first time of gracing the Community Shield at the magnificent Wembley Stadium and will be hoping to help his team to victory.
Besides, the Shield marks the tradition curtain-raiser of the Premier League and always contested between the winners of the previous season’s Premier League and FA Cup. The Foxes were crowned champions of the Premier League in the 2015-2016 season against all odds on May 2, 2016, while the Red Devils defeated Crystal Palace 2-1 in the final of the FA Cup on May 21, 2016.
It will be Leicester City’s second Community Shield appearance after the 1971 edition, where they defeated Liverpool 1-0 compared to Manchester United’s 30th appearance, having won it a record 20.
Jose Mourinho will be expecting a tough test against the Foxes on Sunday and Leicester City manager, Claudio Ranieri, promised “I will choose my best XI” after a pre-season defeat to Barcelona in the International Champions Cup.
Both teams have not had an ideal preseason and there is likely to be signs of teething problems at Wembley as both managers look to blend new and old players into the mix as Mourinho would have Zlatan Ibrahimov, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly on parade, while Ranieri will also feature James Verdy, Riyad Mahrez, Nampalys Mendy and Bartosz Kapustkat.
The most successful teams in the competition are Manchester United (16 outright wins, 4 shared), Arsenal (13 outright wins, 1 shared), Liverpool (10 outright wins, 5 shared) and Everton (8 outright wins, 1 shared).
The highest scoring game was Manchester United’s 8-4 win against Swindon Town in 1911.
Manchester United hold the record for most consecutive losses (4) from 1998 to 2001.
During this period, Manchester United also held the record for most consecutive games played (6) from 1996 to 2001 in which they won two.
Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper, Pat Jennings, scored against Manchester United from his own penalty area in the 1967 Charity Shield, which was shared at 3-3.
Brighton & Hove Albion are the only club to win just the Shield, never the FA Cup or the League.