One week before the season begins, the Community Shield rolls into town, as the Premier League champions face off against the FA Cup winners.
This season sees Manchester City face Leicester City at Wembley Stadium on August 7 2021, at 5pm. The match will be televised live on ITV, the first time the Community Shield will on free-to-air television since the 2012 edition - which was also shown on ITV.
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City have been quiet in the transfer window so far, having lost Sergio Aguero to Barcelona and not yet replaced him. Despite this, Pep Guardiola's side head into the new season as favourites for the Premier League crown once more and are linked with the likes of Harry Kane and Jack Grealish - though neither are likely to have joined by the Community Shield fixture.
Leicester, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on Champions League football on the final day of the season, capitulating at home to Tottenham Hotspur - but enjoyed one of the finest days in their history just a week prior. The Foxes beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Cup final to win the trophy for the first time and have already added the likes of Boubakary Soumare and Patson Daka to their squad for the coming season.
Leicester and Man City didn't mean in cup competition last season but shared a win a-piece in the Premier League.
Two second-half goals from Benjamin Mendy and Gabriel Jesus won Man City the last meeting between these two at the King Power Stadium, back in April, on City's run to the title. City were dominant that day with Leicester struggling to get on the ball - but it was a whole different story back in the reverse fixture in September 2020.
Leicester ran rampant at the Etihad after former Fox Riyad Mahrez gave City an early lead, scoring five times and running out 5-2 winners. Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick to send Leicester to the top of the table that afternoon, making Vardy the first player to score two hat-tricks against Pep Guardiola; City soon signed Ruben Dias, somewhat as a result of that atrocious defensive display, and the rest is history.
Last season, Arsenal beat Liverpool on penalties to win the shield.
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