Manchester City Women Ready For Wembley Showpiece

Competition: Community Shield

Time and date: Saturday 29^th August at 1230

Venue: Wembley Stadium

Coverage: BBC1 (UK) BBC Sport Website and BBC Five Live

Women’s football returns this weekend and for the first time in twelve years, the traditional Community Shield curtain raiser takes place, with the blues facing champions Chelsea at Wembley.

The Londoners were awarded the title on a points-per-game average ahead of City, following the cancellation of the WSL due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and neutral supporters will be hoping for a repeat of the thrilling 3-3 draw between the two sides in Manchester, the last game before the virus took hold.

City were one point clear of Chelsea at the time, but the point-per-game average left the blues on 2.50 points, with Chelsea just pipping them on 2.60 and City will no doubt want to go out and set the record straight with the Londoners.

The match will be City manager Gareth Taylor’s first in charge, following the departure of Nick Cushing to New York City FC and the former City striker will be eager to make his mark early on as the blues aim to put a benchmark in place for the coming season.

Both teams will parade their new signings, with USA stars Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle joining Chloe Kelly in the blues line-up, while Chelsea will want to show what Melanie Leupolz, Silvana Flores, Niamh Charles and Canada international Jessie Fleming can do.

The last winners of the competition were Arsenal when they beat Everton 1-0 in 2008 and City will be keen to bring the trophy north.

City travel to newly promoted Aston Villa a week later for the opening match of the season, while Chelsea start the defence of their crown at the blues cross-city rivals, United the following day.

You can catch the Community Shield match live on BBC1, through the BBC website or on Radio Five Liveo Five Live