Chelsea v Manchester United
The FA Community Shield sponsored McDonald's
3.00pm, Sunday 5 August 2007
Wembley Stadium
Live on Sky Sports
Order the official match programme online, click here

Manchester United skipper Gary Neville is backing new signing Owen Hargreaves to be a hit at Old Trafford as his side prepares for Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Chelsea.

The Premiership champions and The FA Cup winners have an early chance to size one another up ahead of another season where they’ll be among the favourites for yet more honours.

The pair met in May’s Cup Final, with the Blues coming out on top, but Neville believes that United’s Premiership victory, edging out Chelsea with two games to spare, is just the start of things to come for Sir Alex Ferguson’s young team, which has been bolstered by the signing of the former Bayern Munich midfielder.

“Owen is an extremely solid person in terms of his professionalism, he works for the team and if you give Owen a job to do he’ll do it,” Neville told TheFA.com.

“He won’t lose concentration during a match and you’ll have to go a long way to find someone who is quicker at getting to the ball and tackling than Owen Hargreaves.

“He’s also a great free-kick taker, I don’t think that should be underestimated, he’s one of the best I’ve seen. That’s really something I think we’ll see more of for United.”

26-year-old Hargreaves is one of three big names to join United this summer, and Neville is confident the introduction of the England midfielder, along with Portuguese winger Nani and Brazilian Anderson, will create a healthy competition for places.

“We always say the time to strengthen is when you’re doing well and the manager certainly bought well this summer,” said Neville.

“It was levelled at us that we were light in certain areas, and the manager has done something about it. Now there’s great competition for places, but that’s how it should be at a great club like United.

Neville hasn’t played since injuring ankle ligaments against Bolton on 17 March and missed the run-in to United’s first Premiership title in four years but is hoping to return to competitive action on Sunday in what he says is the "perfect friendly".

“I’ve done quite a bit of rehabilitation work over the summer and started pre-season with the team. I’m starting to run out on the field and I’m hoping to be fit for The Community Shield.

“It will be fantastic for me to be able to get in for the game and get ready for the start of the season. I don’t want to miss anymore football, I’m desperate to play with this team; I think it’s such an exciting time.”

The 32-year-old added: “I genuinely believe that this squad can go on to be more successful than we were last season.” 

You can read the full interview with Gary Neville in the official FA Community Shield progamme, available to order online today. Click here..