Despite their showcase success last August, Arsenal managed four points fewer in the last campaign than the previous one. The points gap between the Gunners and champions Chelsea actually extended from three to 13.

In truth, whatever the scale of local derby bragging rights at stake for supporters, for the players and staff, this match is a lot about achieving a state of readiness for the more testing challenges ahead.

A novelty for Chelsea – and Wembley – is that the club will supply a different team at the national stadium over two successive days. Our Ladies kick things off on Saturday when they contest the Women’s FA Cup final with Notts County. Best of luck to Emma Hayes and her side as they attempt to make history by winning their first major trophy.

Chelsea's association with what was originally the Football Association’s Charity Shield is longer than that of most clubs. Stamford Bridge hosted the first ever match of its kind, played between the masters of the Football League, Manchester United, and the Southern League winners, Queen's Park Rangers.

The original meeting in April 1908 ended in a draw, but United emphatically won the late August replay, also on the Fulham Road, by four goals to nil. No Shield has been replayed since.

In Edwardian England there was transparency over where the charitable donations were made, and the details paint a vivid picture of civic society at the time.

The two Bridge matches raised enough for £1,104, five shillings and tuppence to be handed out. £300 was designated according to the wishes of the Red Devils, £100 under the direction of the Rs, and £300 distributed by the FA in this fashion: ‘£50, Lord Mayor Treloar Cripple Children’s Home; £25, St George’s Hospital, Hyde Park Corner; £25, Royal Dental Hospital, London; £20, Railwaymen’s Convalescent Home; £20, Church of England Home for Waifs and Strays; £20, Dr Barnardo’s Homes; £25, Royal Free Hospital; £20, Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital; £50, Surgical Aid Society; £50, London Hospital; £20, Poplar Hospital; £25, St Bartholomew’s Hospital; £25, St Thomas’s Hospital; £25, Charing Cross Hospital; £20, London Playing Fields Society; £20, Lock Hospital; £12 7s 6d, Destitute Children’s Dinner Society; £12 7s 6d, London Schools Dinner Society.’

Even if Petr Cech won't make a charitable donation to a favourite old cause when he faces the team he represented so gloriously from 2004 to 2015, the 33-year-old hero of Munich will no doubt have approved of the sharpshooting of his successor in the champions’ goal, Thibaut Courtois, during the recent penalty shoot-out in Charlotte.