Chelsea take on the champions

Chelsea take on Premier League champions Man City in Sunday’s Community Shield at Villa Park, and are a top priced 3.4 with Betfred to emerge victorious in normal time.

The Blues haven’t enjoyed the best pre-season, suffering three successive defeats to the MLS All Stars, AC Milan and Championship outfit Brighton despite fielding a strong line-up on each occasion.

However this is going to be a totally different affair, as they will want to send out an early warning sign to their rivals ahead of the new Premiership campaign which gets underway next weekend.

It will also hopefully give fans a chance to see new signings Eden Hazard, Thorgan Hazard, Marko Marin and Oscar in action.

Roberto Di Matteo needed to bring in new faces in a bid to bridge the 25 point gap that his side finished behind the two Manchester clubs when finishing sixth in the league last season, and has done just that.

However his side have a good record in cup competitions, as they showed when pulling of a remarkable success in last year’s Champions League.

I think that this will be a lot tighter than the odds suggest, and the Blues will have been encouraged by how sharp Fernando Torres looked in Euro 2012.

The Spaniard looked like his old self with some clinical finishes which saw him share the Golden Boot award, and if he can carry on in the same vain he could cause the City defence all sorts of problems.

He is a top priced 8 with Paddy Power to bag the opener, and that looks a bit of value given that he is a short as 6.5 elsewhere.

You can also get 3.3 with Paddy Power about him to anytime in 90 minutes, and that looks well worth a wager.

I think that Chelsea will surprise City, who haven’t made any new signings, and edge this 2-1 – a scoreline which can be backed at 12 with Betfred.