Community Shield: Premier League champs value to lift first trophy of season

Leicester 3.953/1 v Manchester City 1.991/1; The Draw 3.929/10
Saturday 7 August, 17:15
Live on ITV1

Leicester will need defensive reinforcements

The FA Cup holders Leicester have another big occasion to look forward to on Saturday, when they take on the Premier League winners Manchester City in the Community Shield.

Leicester's FA Cup win gave a happy ending to a season that might have otherwise been labelled a disappointment. For the second season in a row Leicester finished fifth, having spent most of the campaign in the top four, only for their form to drop in the final weeks.

Given the superior resources of the clubs that they are competing with, even a fifth placed finish is a fine achievement, but Brendan Rodgers will naturally be frustrated at having narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification again. The club have set about making improvements in trademark fashion, picking up a potential bargain in Ryan Bertrand on a free transfer and signing young talents such as Boubakary Soumare and Patson Daka.

One area that they might need to strengthen before the transfer deadline is centre-back, following an injury to Wesley Fofana. The 20-year old fractured his tibula in a friendly match against Villarreal on Wednesday, at a time when Jonny Evans is injured and Wes Morgan has just retired.

Manchester City look to strengthen formidable attack

While Leicester's season was elevated by cup success, Manchester City's ended on a sour note, after their Champions League final defeat to Chelsea.

Having already won the EFL Cup and Premier League, Manchester City's season was still a success, but for both the club and Pep Guardiola, the Champions League is the trophy that they most crave.

City regained the title last season by overcoming their issues in defence, with the signing of Ruben Dias. Now they are looking to add to their already formidable attacking options. Jack Grealish seems likely to sign in the coming days, while City are also hoping to land Harry Kane.

Anticipating Guardiola's selections next season will be more difficult than ever. As for this weekend, Guardiola has a lot of players who are only just returning to training due to their involvement in Euro 2020, so we can expect starts for the likes of Joao Cancelo and Riyad Mahrez, who have already got a lot of minutes in pre-season fixtures.

Manchester City are value given Leicester's injury worries

Manchester City are the 1.991/1 favourites, with the draw at 3.929/10 and Leicester at 3.953/1.

That looks like value for a Manchester City win. The injury to Fofana leaves Leicester now lacking a quality partner for Caglar Soyuncu and Rodgers may choose to play with three central defenders to give his team strength in numbers. In contrast, Guardiola was able to name a back four of Cancelo, Dias, Nathan Ake and Benjamin Mendy, in Manchester City's 4-1 win over Blackpool in midweek.

Back Manchester City to take advantage

With Leicester facing defensive issues, while still having plenty of attacking talent, it would be a surprise if the goals didn't flow. Both teams to score is 1.715/7, with over 2.5 goals available at 1.748/11.

You can back Manchester City to score over 1.5 goals at 1.834/5. A Manchester City win and over 2.5 goals is 2.89/5, while you can back the Premier League champions to win and both teams to score, at odds of 3.55/2.

Despite all of the attacking talent that Manchester City possess, it's Leicester's Jamie Vardy who's the favourite to score at 2.47/5. For Manchester City, Gabriel Jesus leads the betting at 2.68/5