Soccer:Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United will not change their approach to the Community Shield being just another part of their pre-season preparations — despite their opponents on Sunday being their neighbours and rivals Manchester City.

The United manager said he would resist getting “emotional” about the match even though the last time the clubs met at Wembley was in April when City triumphed in the FA Cup semi-final.

Ferguson told a news conference at United’s training ground: “I have always viewed the Community Shield as a stepping stone to the first game of the season. It’s very easy to get emotional about this type of game but I don’t think we will be changing our policy. There may be two or three players who need the game on Sunday.”

He revealed that Michael Carrick is likely to miss the game after picking up a slight Achilles problem in Edwin van der Sar’s testimonial on Wednesday. Darren Fletcher, Antonio Valencia and Rafael are all back in training however.

Ferguson confirmed the young Mexican striker Javier Hernandez will miss the start of the league season as a precaution after he suffered from a concussion last month. “Chicharito won’t be involved for maybe another two or three weeks — considering he had a concussion some years ago we are just playing safe with that but he should be back by the end of August.”

Meanwhile Manchester City’s summer signing Sergio Aguero will be on the bench having recovered from blistered feet. Last season’s wantaway top scorer Carlos Tevez is still on leave after the Copa

America and is not expected to report back to the club until Monday.

Manchester City (provisional squad):Hart, Richards, Zabaletta, Lescott, Savic, Kompany, Kolarov, Clichy, Boyata, Barry, Milner, De Jong, Silva, Y Toure, Johnson, Wright-Phillips, Balotelli, Dzeko, Aguero, Taylor.