Arsenal v Manchester City 
The Community Shield is a strange occasion. Within the context of a season it’s essentially meaningless, but it annually benefits from being the first competitive game most fans have seen for a while – it’s a friendly, but it pretends not to be and we go along with that pretence for the sake of our own amusement.
Having finally treated their long-empty trophy cabinet to some FA Cup silverware last season, Arsenal have splashed the cash ahead of the new campaign to improve a squad that could now be capable of pushing for loftier titles.
Sunday’s opponents Manchester City have been surprisingly quiet in the transfer window, suggesting manager Manuel Pellegrini is content with his squad ahead of their Premier League title defence.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger must decide whether to unleash summer signings Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy against Manchester City at Wembley. Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil, and Lukas Podolski will all be absent owing to their extended post-World Cup break while Olivier Giroud is a doubt after struggling for fitness in the friendly defeat against Monaco.
Manchester City will be without eight players . Frank Lampard is deemed not ready to feature yet following his arrival on loan, and the same applies to fellow new signing Bacary Sagna, along with Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Fernandinho and skipper Vincent Kompany - six City players who were involved in the knockout stages of the World Cup.
Alvaro Negredo is the other man to miss out due to his foot injury, but there could be debuts for two new recruits in goalkeeper Willy Caballero and midfielder Fernando.