In their final preparations for the 2010/11 season, Manchester United travels to Wembley Stadium to take on Chelsea in the FA Community Shield for third time in four years.
The previous two meetings between the two clubs in the Community Shield have both been decided on penalties with each side winning once - United in 2007 and Chelsea in 2009.
Despite being the first piece of silverware up for grabs, both United and Chelsea will use this competition as their final preparations for the start of the Barclays Premier League season.
United, though, have the most Community Shield (formerly known as the Charity Shield) titles with 17, but their last three triumphs have been on penalties.
There has been a bit of a jinx about the Community Shield, because United was the only club since inception of the Premier League to have won the league after capturing this domestic honor - they did it twice in 1993 and 1996.
The tide seems to be changing, though, because the last three seasons the winner of this match has gone on to lift the Premier League trophy (United in 2007, 2008 and Chelsea in 2009).
Previously
Last season's Community Shield had a taste of what was to come between Chelsea and United with tempers flaring and a controversial refereeing decision.
Nani gave United a 1-0 lead when he cut inside on the left-hand channel and blast a right-footed shot through a crowd a players and into the side netting.
Chelsea equalized shortly after the interval when Ben Foster, who has since left United for Birmingham City, inexplicably failed to clear Florent Malouda's tame cross and Ricardo Carvalho headed the ball into an uncontested net.
The controversy then began because Chris Foy, with an unobstructed view, failed to punish Michael Ballack for elbowing Patrice Evra, which led to Chelsea's second goal.
Frank Lampard converted a the three-on-two chance after the majority United players stopped following the elbow from Ballack - even though Foster should have done better to have kept the ball out.
Under the FIFA Fair Play rule, Foy should have blown the whistle, because the challenge left Evra on the ground clutching his face, but Chelsea should have also kicked the ball out instead continuing to press forward.
In stoppage time, though, that incident was somewhat forgotten when Wayne Rooney equalized following a wonderful through ball from Ryan Giggs to send the game to penalty kicks.
However, Chelsea won the first of four domestic honors by winning 4:1 on penalties after both Giggs and Evra failed to convert their spot kicks.
About
Chelsea did the domestic double last season capturing both the Premier League title and the FA Cup, so United were invited to take part in the match because they finished second in the league - albeit a solitary point.
Chelsea and United have each one three Premier League titles in the last six years, so the Blues offer United their stiffest competition if they are to win their unprecedented 19th title this year.
In his first managerial season in England, Carlo Ancelotti met almost all of the high expectations of Roman Abromavich winning three domestic competitions, but his success was only measured on his failure to win the one competition the Russian billionaire admires most - the UEFA Champions League trophy.
Chelsea have parted ways with some of their biggest stars with Joe Cole and Ballack both leaving on free transfers to sign with Liverpool and Bayern Leverkusen, respectively.
Yossi Benayoun has been the only big transfer that Chelsea have made this off-season following his £5 million capture from Liverpool, but Ancelotti is on the verge of acquiring Brazilian midfielder, Ramires, from Benfica for around £18 million.
News
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he will not be allowing Tom Cleverley go out on loan this season, because he feels the young Englishman is too valuable to let go. Cleverley has attracted interested from a host of Premier League clubs, but the Gaffer wants him to remain at the biggest club.
Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves have been ruled out for the start of the season with their respective injuries, which could be a major blow, because each of them were set to play a key part for United.
Sir Alex Ferguson will use the FA Community Shield like he has always done before, fielding the players that he feels they need match-fitness, but with that being said, no Manchester United team has ever rolled over and not competed for a medal.
The FA Community Shield can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel at 10.00am EST.
Treatment
Out: R. Ferdinand (knee), Anderson (knee), O. Hargreaves (knee), M. Carrick (ankle), G. Obertan (ankle), Doubtful: Rafael (illness) and Fabio (illness)
Projected
E. van der Sar; G. Neville, N. Vidic, J. Evans, J. O'Shea; A. Valencia, P. Scholes, R. Giggs, Nani; W. Rooney, M. Owen
Prediction
Manchester United 2, Chelsea 1
Contributed by David Hammons / United View From Abroad
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