The countdown to the new English Premier League season is well underway and on Saturday FA Cup holders Arsenal tune up against title winners Liverpool in the Community Shield.
Arsenal
Arsenal line up in the Community Shield on the back of their FA Cup final win over Chelsea (2-1) as recently as 1st August. The Gunners also beat Manchester City (2-0) in the semi final of that competition at Wembley and their recent record at this stadium is impressive.
The 2019/20 EPL season saw Arsenal finish no higher than eighth. They have added Willian (from Chelsea) as a headline recruit and will start their league campaign on 12th September away to newly promoted Fulham.
Arsenal are 50/1 shots to win the title in 2020/21 and you can get 7/2 about them finishing in the top 4.
Liverpool
Liverpool coasted to the title last season, finishing with 99 points, 18 more than second placed Manchester City. They had the title wrapped up before lockdown which goes some way to explaining a dip in their results at the tail end of the season. They did miss out in cup competitions in 2019/20 including the Champions League although their absence from those play offs will have afforded some key players an extra rest.
Full back Kostas Tsimikas has joined from Olympiakos. Liverpool will start their league campaign at home to newly promoted Leeds on 12th September and the current betting for the 2020/21 EPL season sees them trading at around 19/10 to defend their title, behind Manchester City who are 17/20.
Recent Head to Head
In the 2 league meetings last season Liverpool were 3-1 winners at Anfield in August and Arsenal beat them 2-1 at The Emirates in July. The teams also met in the early stages of the EFL Cup at Anfield in October where a second string Liverpool side won on penalty kicks.
Recent Community Shield Results
2019 Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City (City won on penalty kicks)
2018 Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City
2017 Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal (Arsenal won on penalty kicks)
2016 Leicester 1-2 Man United
2015 Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
The Betting
Note all odds quoted are subject to change
Verdict
It will be understandable if both sides are somewhat off the pace and quite possibly well understrength so the team news will be worth monitoring in the run up to kick off.
Arsenal's Wembley record is another factor and how keen Klopp is to add the trophy of this curtain raiser to the cabinet is open to question so the Gunners could be a speculative play if they field a strong line up.
It's probably one to make a late call on but I will go with 2-3 goals in total which you can see from recent history has plenty going for it.
Bets: Total match goals 2-3 at 11/10
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