The 2018/19 season in France and England kicks off with the curtain raiser games; Trophée des Champions and FA Community Shield. The French Trophée des Champions will be played in the Chinese city of Shenzhen while the traditional home for the FA Community Shield is the Wembley stadium in London. Paris Saint-Germain can equal the dominant Olympique Lyonnais side that won six straight Trophées des Champions between 2002 and 2007. Pep Guardiola and Maurizio Sarri will be competing in their first English Community Shield.
Here is our preview of these games.
We begin with Trophées des Champions;
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN v AS MONACO – SAT. 04 AUG 2018, 13.00HRS
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Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, China is the venue for the 2018 Trophées des Champions. Paris Saint-Germain can match Olympique Lyon’s six consecutive title during their dominate era in Ligue 1. Les Rouge-et-Bleu won all domestic titles last season under Unai Emery but it wasn’t enough to save his job. New coach Thomas Tuchel has a tough task in outperforming the new Arsenal manager if he hopes to have a memorable reign in the French capital. AS Monaco are undergoing transformation with Leonardo Jardim attempting to rebuild a new team that can challenge for the title after losing several key players in the 2016-17 title winning team. Gianluigi Buffon should make his debut for PSG while Monaco have several young exciting players in the team with the club pursuing a new strategy.
VERDICT – Monaco have lost their last six games against PSG conceding 23 goals in the process. The absence of injured Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe who is on holiday means Neymar and Angel Di Maria may lead the attack for PSG. Monaco have several senior players out on extended break which means Leonardo Jardim will have to rely on youngsters. The recent history favors PSG and we are tempted to go with them as overwhelming favorites. Over 1.5 goals
FA Community Shield;
CHELSEA v MANCHESTER CITY – SUN. 05 AUG 2018, 15.00HRS
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Pep Guardiola will lead Manchester City out for his first community shield game against a coach whose style he admires. On the other hand, it is Maurizio Sarri’s first official game as the Blues new manager. Manchester City will look to pick up from where they stopped last season but Chelsea are in the way. Sarri can win his first silverware as a manager with a victory in Wembley but that’s easier said than done. Both teams would be without several key players. For Chelsea, Olivier Giroud, N’golo Kante, Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard will be absent while Raheem Sterling, Vincent Kompany, John Stones may not feature for City. Manchester City record signing Riyad Mahrez who sustained an injury in the club’s final preseason match has returned to training and could be in line for his debut.
VERDICT – Within his short period at Chelsea, Sarri has been able to work with several senior players while embedding his philosophy into his new team. Guardiola has had to work with City youngsters mostly in preseason the Spaniard could be fielding a young team on Sunday. Nevertheless, we anticipate a good display in Wembley between two teams whose managers love entertaining attacking football. Both teams should get on the score sheet.
The two of the top five European leagues kicks off from tomorrow. Predict and win big throughout the 2018/19 season by visiting our Sports shop Babaijebu.ng for mouthwatering offers.