Community Shield - Red Devils take on Pompey at Wembley

The 2008/09 English football season kicks off on Sunday with the traditional curtain-raiser, the Community Shield and this year it will be the giants of the Premier League, Manchester United, taking on th champions of the FA Cup, Portsmouth.

Red Devils sans main Playmakers
The Red Devils will be without some of their crucial playmakers with Christiano Ronaldo on the side lines due to an ankle injury and Wayne Rooney & Michael Carrick recovering from a vicious virus picked up in Nigeria, the very same venue where the two teams met head-to-head in a friendly in July.

Sir Alex Ferguson will not be too perturbed with the recent turn of events as his team is the most successful Community Shield combatant, having claimed a record-breaking 16 wins already. They managed to obliterate Chelsea 3-0 on penalties last year, after the match ended 1-1 and Portsmouth are arguably a slightly easier option.

It will the first time since 1996 the Big Four have not contested the opener and in the pre-season friendly in Abju, the Red Devils dominated in a 2-1 triumph, so the odds are clearly in the Premier League champion’s favour.

Crouch Confident
Portsmouth striker, Peter Crouch, is, however, supremely confident he can set the cat amongst the pigeons at Wembley all over again this year - he scored the winning goal for Liverpool against Chelsea in the 2006/07 Community Shield!

Ladbrokes is offering a range of betting options on the Community Shield Showdown including the correct score, first goalscorer and the overall match winner and has Manchester United the clear favourite to win a consecutive title at 8/13, Portsmouth at 4/1 and a draw at 9/4.

Ladbrokes £10 Free Bet
Ladbrokes offers all new punters a £10 free bet.

• Open an account with Ladbrokes Bookmakers
• Place a bet of £10 or more
• Ladbrokes will give you a free bet of upto £10

Ladbrokes Free Community Shield Bet Ladbrokes Review