FA Cup holders Arsenal take on the English champions Chelsea in the Community Shield at the Wembley tomorrow. Arsene Wenger’s side have won their previous two outings in the competition against Manchester City and Chelsea, and a win over the Blues on Sunday would be the perfect morale booster heading into Friday’s Premier League opener at home against Leicester City.
Formation: 3-4-2-1
Wenger has stuck with the three-at-the-back formation in pre-season, and he is likely to adopt a similar setup for the Sunday showpiece versus their London counterparts.
Lineup:
Petr Cech missed out on last season’s FA Cup final against his former club with Wenger relying on Cup goalkeeper David Ospina. It is tricky to choose between the pair, but the manager could go with Cech as he did back in 2015.
The backline will be boosted by the presence of Laurent Koscielny, who is available for the Shield. The competition is regarded as a friendly, and this means the Frenchman will miss the centre-back will miss the first two games of the new season with a suspension incurred from his rash tackle on Everton’s Enner Valencia in the final league outing last term. Koscielny will be accompanied by the likes of Nacho Monreal and Rob Holding, who both shined alongside skipper Per Mertesacker in the Cup final in May.
Sead Kolasinac is a certainty to start in the left wing-back position and this could probably present bad news for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who played there in the final. Wenger has a tough choice to make between Hector Bellerin and Oxlade-Chamberlain but the former could get the nod as he is more natural to the position.
Moving to the midfield, Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka look set to continue their brilliant partnership from last season with the Welshman likely to be encouraged with a free role. Ramsey finds a way to pop up with a winner at Wembley, and it could be another moment to relish following his FA Cup-winning goal against the same opponents in May.
Alexis Sanchez has only recently returned to full training, and he is a huge doubt to participate at the Wembley. In his absence, Mesut Ozil could be paired alongside Alexandre Lacazette with Danny Welbeck likely to get the nod up front after his impressive performance in last season’s FA Cup final.
