Community Shield: Arsenal face Manchester City at Wembley

Arsenal and Manchester City have an opportunity to lay down a marker ahead of the new season in Sunday’s FA Community Shield.

City are back at the traditional Wembley curtain-raiser after winning the Premier League title, while for Arsenal it is their first appearance in this fixture since 2005 following their FA Cup success in May.

The World Cup has taken centre stage during the summer but there have been plenty of developments on the domestic front to set the scene for what promises to be another thrilling campaign, with managerial changes and a host of summer signings.

Arsenal have been unusually busy in the transfer market and, fresh from ending their nine-year wait for silverware, will be confident of kicking on this term and achieving even more.

A 6-3 defeat at the Etihad Stadium provided great entertainment but some painful memories for Arsenal, who also lost heavily at Liverpool and Chelsea.They finished fourth in the league in 2013/14, seven points adrift of champions City, but the most disappointing aspect of their season was perhaps how poorly they fared against the other top teams, and that is something they will be determined to address. 

Arsene Wenger is convinced that Arsenal are becoming more competitive, though, and has taken steps to narrow the gap further by spending heavily on Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and David Ospina.

Sanchez and Debuchy are likely to feature against City and Chambers is also available, but goalkeeper Ospina has a thigh injury.

Yaya Sanogo scored four goals in the friendly victory over Benfica last week and may be given the nod up front as Olivier Giroud continues to build fitness.

City have also brought in some fresh faces in a bid to build on last season’s achievements, signing Fernando, Willy Caballero and, on loan, Frank Lampard.German World Cup winners Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski will not feature.

Bacary Sagna has also been recruited following the end of his Arsenal contract and will link up with former Gunners team-mates Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy.

A long run in the UEFA Champions League will be a target for City despite being punished for breaching financial fair play rules, but the main aim will be to defend their Premier League crown.

City came out just two points ahead of Liverpool in a dramatic title race last season, as Manuel Pellegrini enjoyed a magnificent first year in charge of the club.

Pellegrini will be without Alvaro Negredo against Arsenal after the striker sustained a serious foot injury in pre-season which is expected to keep him out for a few months.

However, there could be debuts for two new recruits in goalkeeper Caballero and midfielder Fernando.Lampard is deemed not ready to feature yet following his arrival on loan, and the same applies to fellow new signing Sagna, along with Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Fernandinho and skipper Vincent Kompany - six City players who were involved in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

City will hope to show on Sunday that they remain the team to beat, in a clash which will be refereed by Michael Oliver and will feature the vanishing spray which was used at the World Cup.