The FA Community Shield - the Barclays Premier League curtain raiser - is back on Sunday with familiar foes Manchester United taking on Chelsea.
The contest traditionally features the Premier League winners playing the FA Cup holders but because Chelsea did the double last season, league runners-up Manchester United get first crack at the champions.
Carlo Ancelotti's men go into this game as slight favourites on the back of last season's performances. The Red Devils lost the last Community Shield to Chelsea 4-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in normal time.
Espnstar.com takes you through this year's key Community Shield battles.
Rooney v Terry
Manchester United's star striker Wayne Rooney is almost certain to start after only returning to training a week ago. Lambasted for his England performances at the World Cup, Rooney has also been making all the wrong headlines leading up to Sunday's showdown. Something's got to give. Expect Rooney to be in a mean mood and that could mean problems for a Chelsea defence which has been leaking goals pre-season.
John Terry will pair-up with Branislav Ivanovic in the centre of defence to protect Ross Turnbull who should get the nod ahead of Hilario. Terry, Turnbull, and Hilario have all been culpable during Chelsea's poor pre-season run, but it will be the responsibility of the former England captain to step up for his side in a bid to stop United going forward.
Fletcher v Essien
Manchester United looked a bit lightweight in central midfield last season and not much has changed since then. United are still too reliant on Darren Fletcher. A fit again Michael Essien for Chelsea will be more than a challenge for the Scot whose attention will be distracted by the presence of goal-machine Frank Lampard as well as the Blues' new threat Yossi Benayoun - a player who, according to Carlo Ancelotti, is cleverer than Joe Cole.
Anelka / Drogba v Evans / Smalling
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is expected to name a starting line-up similar to the one which recently lost against Hamburg in a friendly. This means, Nicolas Anelka is up front as the lone striker supported by the attacking trio of Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda and Yossi Benayoun. Didier Drogba will feature at some stage to get his match fitness on track for the upcoming season.
The stats suggest that a hatful of goals is unlikely and it should be a close affair on Sunday but with no Rio Ferdinand to partner Nemanja Vidic, Sir Alex Ferguson has to rely on less established stars like Jonny Evans and new signing Chris Smalling to fill the void.
Sir Alex Ferguson v Carlo Ancelotti
Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti go head-to-head again with the Italian clearly holding the upper hand. Ancelotti beat the United boss in both Premier League fixtures last season and also had a very good record against the Red Devils during his AC Milan days.
Ultimately, both managers will chop and change personnel throughout the match to give players a last chance workout before the new season gets underway, and this will have a bearing on the ebb and flow of the match and how much attacking ambition the teams will show.
The trend over the last few years has been for penalty shootouts to decide the winner and it looks possible again this year. However, there is a real buzz in the United camp surrounding new Mexican striker Javier Hernandez and he might prove to be the ace up Ferguson's sleeve as he looks to finally put one over on Ancelotti.
Subject: 2010/11 Community Shield: Key Battles 
Fri Aug 06, 2010 6:49 pm
