After
announcing his arrival with a superb brace against ‘almighty’ Barcelona at the
International Championship Cup on Tuesday, Super Eagles winger, Ahmed Musa will
be hoping to maintain his goal scoring form as Leicester City face Manchester
United in Sunday’s 94th FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium (4pm Nigerian
time).
The
Foxes had to cough out a club record £15m to seal CSKA Moscow’s enterprising
and pacy winger to add more attacking bit to their squad this summer and he
wasted no time by paying them back with two classy goals despite losing 4-2
against Barcelona. It will be Musa’s first time of gracing the Community Shield
at the magnificent Wembley Stadium and will be hoping to help his team to
victory.
Besides,
the Shield marks the tradition curtain-raiser of the Premier League and always
contested between the winners of the previous season’s Premier League and FA
Cup. The Foxes were crowned champions of the Premier League in the 205-2016
season against all odds on May 2nd, 2016 while the Red Devils defeated Crystal
Palace 2-1 in the final of the FA Cup on 21st May 2016.
It
will be Leicester City’s second Community Shield appearances after the 1971
edition, where they defeated Liverpool 1–0 compared to Manchester United’s 30th
appearances, having won it a record 20. Jose Mourinho will be expecting a tough
test against the Foxes on Sunday and Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri
promised “I will choose my best XI” after a pre-season defeat to Barcelona
in the International Champions Cup.
Both
teams has not had an ideal preseason and there is likely to be signs of
teething problems at Wembley as both managers look to blend new and old players
into the mix as Mourinho would have Zlatan Ibrahimov, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and
Eric Bailly on parade while Ranieri will also feature James Verdy, Riyad
Mahrez, Nampalys Mendy and Bartosz Kapustkat.
Records
(Stats provided by Wikipedia)
The
most successful teams in the competition are Manchester United (16 outright
wins, 4 shared), Arsenal (13 outright wins, 1 shared), Liverpool (10 outright
wins, 5 shared) and Everton (8 outright wins, 1 shared).
The
highest scoring game was Manchester United’s 8–4 win against Swindon Town in
1911.
Everton
hold the record for most consecutive wins (4) from 1984 to 1987; however, the
1986 was shared with Liverpool.
Manchester
United hold the record for most consecutive losses (4) from 1998 to 2001.
During this period Manchester United also held the record for most consecutive
games played (6) from 1996 to 2001 in which they won 2.
Tottenham
Hotspur goalkeeper Pat Jennings scored against Manchester United from his own
penalty area in the 1967 Charity Shield, which was shared at 3-3.
Brighton
& Hove Albion are the only club to win just the Shield, never the FA Cup or
the League.
