FA Community Shield: Arsenal vs Chelsea preview

Arsenal and Chelsea kick off the new season at Wembley on Sunday as they meet in the FA Community Shield. Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 at the end of May to win the FA Cup, but the Blues won the Premier League as the Gunners only managed to finish fifth. The two sides have met in a friendly match as well, Chelsea won it 3-0 at the end of July. Overall, Chelsea have won four of their last six meetings against Arsenal. Arsenal start a new season with Arsene Wenger at the helm, despite various protests from unhappy fans and a rather inactive summer on the transfer market. However, the Gunners did sign Sead Kolasinac and Alexandre Lacazette and also managed to hold on to Alexis Sanchez, even though his contract runs out at the end of the season. The two new signings should make the first eleven, while Sanchez will most likely miss out after being given an extended holiday following the Confederations Cup. Chelsea start their Premier League title defence campaign full of confidence after manager Antonio Conte secured a few solid signings this summer: Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, Tiemoue Bakayoko from AS Monaco and Antonio Rudiger from AS Roma. Bakayoko is injured and will miss out, Morata is a fitness doubt, while Rudiger might have to settle for a place on the bench for now. Probable line-ups: Arsenal: Cech - Holding, Koscielny, Monreal - Chamberlain, Ramsey, Xhaka, Kolasinac - Welbeck, Ozil - Lacazette Chelsea: Courtois - Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill - Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso - Willian, Morata - Batshuayi My prediction: Chelsea to win 3-2. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Arsenal win - 3.25 Draw - 3.50 Chelsea win - 2.20