Injury hit Man United face Man City in crunch Community Shield tie

Premier League champions, Manchester City, and 2023/24 FA Cup winners, Manchester United, will rekindle their rivalry in the 2024 Community Shield match at the Wembley Stadium today (Saturday), in what will be the 194th Manchester derby.

The match, the curtain raiser for the 2024/25 Premier League season, will be broadcast live on DStv ch 203 and GOtv ch 66 at 3 pm. Despite City’s dominance, which has seen them win the title four times in the last five seasons, the derby has remained a close contest. In the last 46 Manchester derbies, City won 22 scoring 75 goals, United won 20 netting 59 times, while four encounters ended in a draw. Pep Guardiola’s men have also lost two of the last five derbies, with the last coming in a 2-1 FA Cup final defeat in May.

The encounter already has an intriguing build-up, with the FA having to replace the initial match-day referee, John Brooks, after suffering an injury. Fellow Premier League match official, Jarred Gillett, will take charge.

Pep Guardiola has had an imperious eight-year reign as City boss. He has won the league six times but has endured a not-too-impressive record in the Community Shield, with just two wins. His City side will want to avoid a repeat of last season’s result that saw them lose the Community Shield to Arsenal at the same venue.

Manchester United will go into the match with a long list of injuries. New signing Leny Yoro is out for three months with a foot injury; Aaron Wan-Bissaka
was withdrawn in the last friendly match due to injury; Harry Maguire is still recovering from the issue that ruled him out of Euro 2024; Jonny Evans is struggling with illness, while Victor Lindelof and Rasmus Hojlund are also injured.

Speaking ahead of the game, Manchester United Manager, Erik Ten Hag, said the aim is to win, but will not risk any unfit player to get the job done.
“So, we always want to win, also in all the friendlies,” said Ten Hag. “It’s about trophy, we will put out a team that is very competitive to win this trophy. It’s also pre-season, we don’t go into big risks with players, the normal approach into this game.”

Manchester City have no major injury worries, with star players such as Haaland, Rodri, Doku, De Bruyne, and Foden all expected to be in the squad at Wembley.