Mitch Freeley

FA Cup winners Chelsea take on league champions Manchester City on Sunday afternoon in the community shield, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English league season. Both sides will be eager to start the season with a trophy, as ever you can watch all the action from Wembley via beIN SPORTS CONNECT.

It will be the first competitive game for new Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri, and it will be an earlier indicator to see how the squad will have taken to his methods since joining Chelsea in mid-July.

Chelsea will be without the likes of Eden Hazard, N’golo Kante & keeper Thibaut Courtois who are still recovering from the World Cup. So expect a mixture of youth and experience in the side against Man City.

Chelsea Provisional Squad

Caballero, Rudiger, Alonso, Fabregas, Jorginho, Drinkwater, Barkley, Morata, Pedro, Bakayoko, Moses, Musonda, Zappacosta, Willian, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Emerson Palmieri, Ampadu, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Zouma.

The West London side beat Man City to the signing of Napoli midfielder Jorginho, and expect Chelsea’s number five to play a part on Sunday afternoon. The Brazilian born Italian international racked up some of the best passing statistics in Serie A last year and will be charged with setting the tempo against the Citizens. The box-to-box midfielder has a superb passing range and could be the difference maker for his new team.

How to watch Online- beIN SPORTS CONNECT

TV Channel- HD 11

Kick-off- 17:00

Stadium- Wembley, London

As for Manchester City, they will be looking to win the community shield for the first time since 2012. Pep Guardiola’s side defeated all before them last season as they stormed to the Premier League title. Now the emphasis will be on the Citizens to repeat the same feat in both the league & European competition.

After extended runs in the World Cup, Kevin De Bruyne & Raheem Sterling are unlikely to feature. However, the likes of Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus & David Silva have all returned following their antics in Russia and should be all playing a part in the game.

City has "only" added one player to their already impressive squad so far ahead of the new Premier League season. Algerian Riyad Mahrez joins for a record fee, and should recover after an ankle injury to play in Wembley. Pep Guardiola had been trailing Mahrez for some time, and it will be interesting to see how the winger is utilized against Chelsea.

Man City Provisional Squad

Ederson, Bravo, Hart, Walker, Danilo, Stones, Garcia, Otamendi, Kompany, Laporte, Mendy, Delph, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Fernandinho, D Silva, B Silva, Sane, Roberts, Mahrez, Bolton, Foden, Diaz, Nmecha, Jesus, Aguero.

It certainly promises to be a fascinating encounter as Chelsea take on Manchester City in the community shield. You can watch all the action from Shenzhen via beIN SPORTS CONNECT.