Champions of England Manchester City are 4/7 favourites to beat Manchester United to win the 2024 Community Shield in normal time and just 1/3 to land it by any means.
However, neither of those wagers feature among our list of the three bets that always (or at least often) cop in recent editions of the traditional curtain raiser for the Premier League season.
Three Community Shield bets that always seem to cop
Man Utd to lift the trophy @ 9/4
Bet on the latest Man Utd vs Man City odds
City woeful favourites on evidence of recent seasons
Manchester City’s dominance of English football is evident in the fact that they’ve contested five of the last six Community Shields as EPL champions.
Somewhat surprisingly they’ve failed to win any of the last three editions, losing out to Leicester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
However, the failures make more sense when considered in the context of Pep Guardiola’s preference for bringing his team slowly to boil over the course of the first few months of a season to ensure they at they’re still at their best at the business end.
United bested the Cityzens as recently as the FA Cup Final in May and could well steal another famous Wembley win over their near-omnipotent neighbours here.
Tip: Man Utd to lift the trophy @ 9/4
Extra time the rule rather than exception of late
Seven straight Community Shields were won inside normal time between 2010 and 2016 but since then additional measures have often been required to separate the contestants with four of the last seven going to extra time or beyond.
Three of the last five Manchester derbies have been won by a single goal, so it would take a little for what has often been a close fixture of late to go beyond normal time.
Tip: Match result – Draw @ 7/2
Correct score call has clicked in four of the last seven
The 1-1 draw has been the correct score bet of choice in Community Shields in recent years and would have yielded a handsome level stakes profit if backed in every edition from 2017 onwards.
Three of the last five clashes between United and City have ended 2-1 one way or the other in normal time, suggesting it’s far from outlandish that the 1-1 cops again here at very decent odds.
