by ‘Ifreke Inyang

People have a habit of not paying great attention to curtain raisers. To them, it does not give a valid description of what the main event might throw up.

One is tempted to forgive their stance. Last year, Manchester United steamrolled Wigan Atletic at Wembley, to clinch the Community Shield. In May 2014, they sat humiliatingly in 7th position, far away from every European engagement for this term.

It might be starkly different this time around. Arsenal and Manchester City, who lock horns on Sunday afternoon, are both well equipped to sit atop the EPL next May.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side arguably boast envy-inducing depth in their squad. Fernando has arrived in a midfield that already had names like Yaya Toure and Fernandinho, while Mangala will bring brute force to City’s defence, perhaps alongside the ever reliable Vincent Kompany. Bacary Sagna has already swapped North London for Manchester and will battle it out with Zabaleta for the right-back spot.

Arsene Wenger has not been admiring from afar. The Frenchman has loosened his purse strings like never before, splashing heavily on Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona. The Chilean represents the biggest arrival in England so far and he will add pace, versatility and goals to an Arsenal team that seem to run out of options last season. The forward will also provide another option for the needy creative genius, Mesut Ozil, who delights in finding speedy human targets. Debuchy, Ospina and Chambers have also been brought it. And Wenger says he is not done.

There will almost be no room for new faces, before both teams file out at Wembley. City would be without Kompany, Aguero, Sagna, Lampard and Demichelis, while the Gunners will only be missing their German trio of Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski and Ozil.

Missing faces aside, it will be a proper game of football. Both sides will be eager to lay down the marker, as another intense, dramatic English season beckons.

The statement of intent is sounded out loud and clear in games like this. It’s the chance to clinch the first piece of silverware, this time though, it might be the first of a few for either team.

 

 

‘Ifreke Inyang tweets via @Ifreke

 

 

 

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