The FA Community Shield Sponsored Arsenal V Man City 14:00 Frank Lampard will not make his Manchester City debut this weekend. None of the City players who arrived back from their post-World Cup holidays this week will feature, either, while striker Alvaro Negredo remains sidelined by a foot injury. Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud could miss out after looking short of match fitness in a friendly loss to Monaco. Summer signings Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy and Alexis Sanchez may play, but David Ospina has a thigh problem. MATCH PREVIEW Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini defended the signing of Lampard after Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger questioned the reasons behind his move. Former Chelsea midfielder Lampard moved to Etihad Stadium on loan from affiliate club New York City, which Wenger suggested was designed to bypass Uefas financial fair play regulations. Watch on the BBC on Sunday You will be able to see goals from Wembley as they go in on the BBC Sport website There will also be highlights published throughout the match Three-minute highlights will be published on the full-time whistle Full highlights show on BBC One on Sunday night Ahead of Sundays meeting in the Community Shield at Wembley, Pellegrini said: As managers, we have enough problems with our own teams to be talking about other teams. The only thing I can say is that we have important restrictions about the amount of money we can spend, and Frank Lampard was a free player - we didnt spend any money in bringing him from New York City to Manchester City. He is a competitive player, he will be important for our team and we didnt spend any money on him, so the rules of financial fair play dont have any relation with Lampard. Pellegrini also defended Lampards move to another Premier League side. I dont understand the reaction of Chelsea fans who say he is a traitor, the Chilean said. Play media Jump media player Media player help Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Referees get vanishing spray lessons ahead of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil The problem was not that Frank Lampard did not want to sign another contract with Chelsea. Chelsea didnt want him any more. By their own standards, Premier League champions City have had a quiet summer in the transfer market. New signing Bacary Sagna will sit out this weekends match after his involvement in the knockout stages of the World Cup with France, meaning only Fernando and Willy Caballero are in line to see their first competitive action for the club this weekend. Wenger believes his FA Cup-winning side are no longer poor relations to the likes of City. In recent years, City have lured some of Arsenals star names - such as Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor and, most recently, Sagna - away from the Emirates. However, the Gunners have more than £50m of fresh talent in their squad after a busy summer in the transfer market, most notably with the capture of Alexis Sanchez for a fee in the region of £35m from Barcelona. Play media Jump media player Media player help Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Manuel Pellegrini surprise at Arsene Wengers Frank Lampard comments Sanchezs arrival, coupled with the club record signing of Mesut Ozil a year ago, has convinced Wenger that Arsenal are now on a level playing field with Sundays opponents. We are less vulnerable now, that is for sure, Wenger said. In the last two years we bought Ozil and Sanchez - five years ago we would have lost Ozil and Sanchez. For years we have lost top players without the ability to replace them because of financial management. We have more money available to buy today than we had five years ago. We can compete better. Arsenal begin their Premier League campaign at home to Crystal Palace on 16 August but midfielder Aaron Ramsey said the Gunners will treat the Community Shield with the utmost respect. The 23-year-old Wales international said: We are going to approach it as if we were approaching the first game of the Premier League. Its a big game for us and we are going to treat it like that. The Community Shield will feature vanishing spray for the first time in English football. MATCH FACTS Head-to-head Manchester City have lost only one of their last eight games against Arsenal in all competitions (W4, D3). There have been six red cards in the last eight league matches between these sides, with City receiving four and Arsenal two. Arsenal The Gunners last contested a Community Shield at Wembley in 1999, beating Manchester United 2-1. The last time they took part in the seasons traditional curtain-raiser was in 2005, when they lost 2-1 to Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Their most recent win in this fixture was against Manchester United in 2004. Of the 41 league goals Arsenal conceded in 2013-14, 17 (41%) came in three matches; defeats at Manchester City (6-3), Liverpool (5-1) and Chelsea (6-0). Arsenal have lost four of their last six competitive matches at Wembley (W1, D1). Aaron Ramsey scored 16 goals in all competitions in 2013-14, compared to just 11 in his first five seasons with the club. Manchester City City have won the Community Shield or Charity Shield on four occasions, but never at Wembley. They won this fixture in 2012, beating Chelsea 3-2 in a game staged at Villa Park. They won their final five games of the 2013-14 season, scoring 14 goals and conceding just three.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 10:05:52 +0000
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