Its here! Its here! It is finally here! It is of course the 2022 edition of the FA Community shield and that means just one thing! The Premier League is around the corner, and I absolutely cannot wait.
It certainly doesn’t get much bigger than Liverpool playing City at the home of last year’s winners (The King Power) and with this being the closest thing to the real thing – let’s get right into this one!
To Win (90 mins)
Liverpool 37/20
Draw 24/10
Manchester City 29/20
Liverpool
I must be honest and say that I have been surprised to see – or rather hear – the relevant undercurrents around Liverpool going into this season. I’m not entirely sure where it started, but there seems to be this ‘underdog’ tag which is seemingly attacked to Jurgen Klopp’s chargers these past few weeks…and it is the most ludicrous thing I have engaged with in ages!
It’s completely absurd! Out of this world. This is a serious football side packed with quality and all the potential in the world. Yes, they have lost one of their best players in their history – Sadio Mane – but they have also brought in quality and trimmed the fat elsewhere.
This is a side with attacking options such as Mo Salah, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez. The latter has joined Anfield from Benfica and although he started slowly against United – as much I certainly enjoyed it, it wasn’t a true reflection obviously.
Liverpool seems to have stuck closely to their tried and tested script. They look to prioritize a quick and powerful attacking approach, hungry to win the ball as high on the pitch as possible and go forward with a real sense of quality and intent.
Defensively they aren’t exactly shuddering either, it would be a little remiss of me to unpack it here and assume you aren’t already well versed on what to expect from the likes of Virgil van Dijk…
If this is the sort of side who are to be underestimated this season, I feel for who they come up against.
Manchester City
Another season and Manchester City are still lauded as one of (if not the) best football team in all of Europe – and so possibly the world…I would think so given they are also a football side who have the combined value of a little over a billion quid!
The Sky Blues are indeed the reigning champions of England’s Premier League and given they have won the competition four times in the last five years, only a fool would question their domestic dominance.
It seems plausible then to gauge from Pep Guardiola’s public comments that his side will look to continue their quest for maximum silverware. Of course, their Holy Grail remains the Champions League – but that is an article for another day. They can only win what is in front of them and right now that is the FA Community shield – and in so doing they can send a serious message to their closest rivals.
If we needed any further indication that City were to hold onto their magnificent and almost otherworldly ambitions, surely the securing of Erling Haaland’s services is the greatest of these? He is a serious player and personally I cannot wait to see how he takes to the Premier League.
They’ve also secured Kalvin Phillips from Leeds. It’s in the midfielder who I think they are to find their most surprises to be honest. I think he’s a fantastic player, incredibly hard worker and who I wouldn’t be surprised to see play a massive role for England later this year!
This game is obviously the traditional yardstick for the two ‘better’ teams from 2022, but with just five days from this fixture to the start of the season – there is no room to wiggle is there? This is it, it’s the closest expression and example of what the world can expect from these two clubs.
Prediction: 1st Half BTTS – Yes (31/10)
I’m excited about this game obviously – but even more so because I think we can make some serious money early on with this sort of price available around the idea of both teams scoring early on.
I really think we are in for a spectacle of goals in this one and goals at both ends are as about as guaranteed as me having a go at Liverpool at some point this season…
At 31/10 get on, have a serious punt, and then enjoy the season begin to unfold!
