This year's Community Shield pits the two Manchester giants against each other, and if their recent meetings are anything to go by, it could be a slightly tastier encounter than usual.

The Community Shield is traditionally little more than a fitness-building exercise and curtain-raiser for the new season, but with local bragging rights at stake, a competitive contest is on the cards on Sunday.

Wembley has not been a happy hunting ground for Manchester United of late, having suffered two devastating losses there at the end of last season. They were first beaten 1-0 by Manchester City in an ill-tempered FA Cup semi-final, before a Leo Messi-inspired Barcelona put them to the sword with a 3-1 victory in the Champions League final.

But after a successful preseason tour of the US, including a 2-1 victory over Barcelona, and with Wayne Rooney firing on all cylinders, the Premier League Champions will be hoping to gain a psychological edge over their title-rivals at Wembley.

United will be without the injured Javier Hernandez, Michael Carrick and Rafael. There is better news, however, regarding Darren Fletcher and Antonio Valencia, both of whom are back in training and will challenge for a first-team place. With Paul Scholes and Edwin van der Sar now retired, United fans will be clamouring to see some of their side's £50m trio of new signings. Ashley Young, Phil Jones and goalkeeper David de Gea will all be hoping to feature.

Manchester City's pre-season has been dominated by Carlos Tevez's very public desire to leave the club, while Mario Balotelli has also confessed to being unhappy in Manchester. Icons favourite Sergio Aguero has arrived from Atletico Madrid to ease City's worries, however, and Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic have also come in to bolster the defence.

City boss Roberto Mancini has confirmed that the £38m Aguero will be given time to adjust to life in England, and will start on the bench at Wembley. Want-away Tevez, meanwhile, will not return to training with City until next week, so goalscoring responsibilities will fall to Balotelli and the Bosnian Edin Dzeko.

With the Premier League kick-off just over a week away, let's hope Sunday's Community Shield proves a worthy introduction.

Ryan Giggs completed another signing session for us on Tuesday in Manchester. Ryan was in fine form after his man-of-the-match performance against Chelsea at the weekend. As always, Ryan had time to stop and chat to his fans before getting down to business.

Ryan, who has been working with icons since 1999, signed a number of shirts, boots and photos for us, which will be available for sale shortly. Look out for the blue away kit with the special badge commemorating the European Cup win over Benfica 40 years ago, when of course, United wore the same colours. Only 10 of these were signed, making this a very rare piece of sports memorabilia. Ring our order line now if you want to reserve one of these for yourself.

Ryan also signed a number of photos of his amazing solo goal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal. This classic image always flies off the shelves – there's something about the way he waltzed through the Gunners' famous back five before revealing the hairiest chest in football that Utd fans love – and for the first time it is available in a larger size of 20 inches by 16 inches.

Great to see Ryan Giggs putting in a man-of-the-match performance against Chelsea yesterday. The 35-year-old was making his 549th appearance for Manchester United and is set to reach the 550-mark if he plays against Wigan on Wednesday.

Ryan has agreed to meet us for another signing session tomorrow, where as well as more memorabilia from the 2008 Champions League victory, he will be signing some rare blue kits with badges commemorating the 40th anniversary of United's first European Cup win over Benfica. Only ten will be signed, so be quick off the mark to get yourself a genuinely rare item of memorabilia.

Sir Alex Ferguson was effusive in his praise for Ryan after the 3-0 victory. He told MUTV: "Ryan was fantastic. I kept him particularly for this game, I rested him. I told him two weeks ago he and Darren Fletcher would play against Chelsea.

"I thought this game was made for them, given Ryan's ability to hold the ball and beat a man in midfield with that left foot. Ballack couldn't live with him really. It could have been a mistake – it's very easy to make a mistake when you've got a squad of 23 players. Genuine mistakes of course because you want to pick a team that wins and the supporters understand that. But today it worked and I'm glad it did."