When is the 2021/22 Community Shield, who is playing and where can I watch it?

The first league game of the season is always a notable one regardless of which team you support in any division - but for top-flight fans in England, the real ‘start’ comes one week earlier with the Community Shield.

While in truth most teams use it as a glorified friendly and part of their pre-season preparations now, given the match is at Wembley, has to be earned to be a part of and will again have fans out in full force, both sides are likely to want to put on a show and emerge victorious.

This year, Leicester City will face Manchester City after the two clubs picked up the major domestic prizes last season.

The Foxes won the FA Cup final, beating Chelsea thanks to a spectacular Youri Tielemans goal, while Pep Guardiola’s City side stormed to another Premier League title - their third in four years. Somewhat ironically, their status as champions was confirmed after Leicester themselves beat Man United in May.

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Here’s everything you need to know about the first domestic match of the 21/22 season.

When is the Community Shield?

The match takes place at Wembley in London on Saturday 7 August, with a 5pm kick-off.

Where can I watch the match?

The game returns to being free-to-air this season and ITV have live coverage, while it can also be streamed via the ITV Hub.

Where have the teams been in pre-season?

Leicester embarked on a series of friendlies against lower-league domestic sides, facing the likes of Wycombe and QPR this summer.

They also then played Villarreal in a higher-profile home friendly, winning the match but at a cost - defender Wesley Fofana picked up a serious injury in the game and will miss the opening months of the season.

Man City similarly faced domestic opposition in Preston, before they were due to head to France to face Troyes - another team owned by the City Football Group - at the end of July. That was called off due to Coronavirus restrictions though, with City instead beating Blackpool in their last warm-up.

Odds

Leicester 3/1

Draw 56/19

Man City 42/41

Prediction

So much depends on which players are fit and available but three of the last four Community Shields have been decided by penalty shootouts - we’ll guess the same happens again here.

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