Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City
And that is why Premier League champions Manchester City remain the team to beat.
Sure enough, it is eight years (2010) since the side that won the Community Shield went onto be crowned champions of England.
Sure enough, their opponents at Wembley were slightly under strength.
But both SBOBET tips and this encounter clearly show that Pep Guardiola’s side are clear favourites to retain the Premier League title.
Highlights of the game
There were old favourites and new faces in the traditional curtain-raiser.
City included club record £60 million signing Riyad Mahrez in their starting line-up, while Chelsea featured new recruitJorginho who supposedly opted to move to London instead of the blue half of Manchester.
It took just 13 minutes – unlucky for Chelsea – for the champs to seize the advantage as Sergio Aguero thumped the ball past his former City team-mate and fellow countryman Willy Caballero.
It showed City’s purpose and energy from the off, even though it was slack from the Londoners.
Callum Hudson-Odoi, who so impressed in a recent friendly against Arsenal, provided Chelsea’s biggest threat and the 17-year-old shot straight at Claudio Bravo with 10 minutes of the half remaining but it was fair to say City were on top and Chelsea, missing the likes of Eden Hazard and Willian who was named on the bench, were very much second best.
Mahrez and Leroy Sane, surprisingly left out of Germany’s World Cup squad this summer, spurned chances to extend the lead before the break.
Then after the restart the champions nearly doubled their lead after another talented teenager, Phil Foden, played Aguero clear and he rounded Caballero only to find the side-netting.
The Argentine maestro didn’t have too long to wait.
He rifled a low show past Caballero in the 57th minute after Bernardo Silva’s pass was too smart for David Luiz.
It was Aguero’s 10th goal for City against Chelsea since he moved from Atletico Madrid to join the City revolution.
In the 26 year history of the Premier League, Aguero must be one of the top five foreign players to have graced English football’s top flight.
Like Thierry Henry and Peter Schmeichel to name but two, some imports into English football have simply proved a class apart and Aguero’s name stands tall among them.
He would have even claimed a first hat-trick in this fixture since another great – a certain Eric Cantona in 1992 – but for a Caballero save.
How foolish that he wasn’t used properly by Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoliat the World Cup in Russia when they went out in the last 16 of the competition.
Tammy Abraham, who spent last season on loan at Swansea, went close to reducing the arrears late on but Bravo cut out Ross Barkley’s inviting delivery in the nick of time.
Caballero was busy again in the closing stages and his reflexes denied sub Brahim Diaz a third goal which would have mirrored their spells of control.
That is now three trophies in six months for City who still have the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva and Raheem Sterling to return.
Their huge outlay demands trophies and who would bet against more silverware returning to the Etihad Stadium in 2018/19?
Key statistics
Aguero is already City’s record goalscorer but his opener was a special milestone – his 200th goal for the club since he signed in August 2011.
Such was the temperature at Wembley, players from both sides took water breaks.
Although there is no VAR in the Premier League or Champions League, it was in operation this clash between the league champions and FA Cup winners.
Hazard, his Chelsea future reportedly up for discussion, is due back in training for the club on Monday.
Maurizio Sarri is Chelsea’s eighth permanent boss in the past decade.
Chelsea have now failed to win the Community Shield in any of their past five appearances (2010, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018). It’s the joint-longest run of appearances without winning or sharing the trophy in the competition’s history, along with Newcastle (1932, 1951, 1952, 1955 and 1996).
This is the first time the Premier League champions, as opposed to the FA Cup winners, have won the Community Shield since Manchester United beat Wigan 2-0 in 2013.
What’s next?
City travel to the Emirates to face Arsenal in what potentially will be the Premier League contest of the opening weekend.
The Premier League 2018 odds make them firm favourites.
Chelsea have a friendly against Lyon at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday before opening their Premier League campaign against Huddersfield on Saturday.
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