Fans were awaiting the clash of the giants at the new Wembley stadium to kick off this season in the FA Community Shield. But both Manchester United and Chelsea appeared to be testing the waters as they were cautious rather than carefree.

That the game ended in a deadlock and had to be decided on penalties bears testimony to the fact that Chelsea and Manchester United never tested each other.

Edwin van der Sar showed that he could still be Manchester United's No 1 goalkeeper with a superb performance to blank out Chelsea in the penalty shootout and help United lift the FA Community Shield for the first time since 2003.

Chelsea was forced to go out with a severely weakened team, with John Terry and Didier Drogba both unavailable due to injuries just a day before the match. That left Jose Mourinho with a single striker in form of free signing Claudio Pizarro.

Mourinho opted to leave the Peruvian striker on bench and started with debutant Florent Malouda. Joe Cole and Shaun Wright Philips gave him company upfront. The Chelsea manager also gave competitive debuts to new signings Steven Sidwell and Tal Ben-Haim.

Meanwhile none of the new signings at Old Trafford featured in the starting lineup, with Sir Alex Ferguson playing Ryan Giggs alongside Wayne Rooney while Patrice Evra was played as the left winger. Portuguese winger Nani was picked for the bench while Van der Sar was in the goal.

The game started in a slow tempo, with Chelsea enjoying the majority of possession though not being too much of a threat in front of goal. The first real chance of the match came in the 21st minute when Giggs' shot from inside the box was blocked by Ashley Cole.

United took the lead 15 minutes later through a splendid piece of play by Nemanja Vidic who found Evra with an exquisite long ball and the Frenchman played a one-two with Ronaldo before crossing the ball to Giggs inside the box and the United captain made no mistake to give his team the lead.

Just when it looked like United would go into the half leading the match, Malouda got a goal on his debut, out muscling Rio Ferdinand to slot home the equalizer. Mourinho made four changes in the second half bringing in Claudio Pizarro, Lassana Diara, Steve Sidwell and Scott Sinclair while Nani and Fletcher came on for United.

With both the teams unable to find the breakthrough in the second half, the tie was to be decided on penalties, which was a shame because the fans deserved more.

Chelsea were unable to convert any of their chances with Van der Sar saving penalty kicks from Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips, while United converted all the three chances, setting up an intriguing season ahead.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said the win was vital for his team’s prospects in the season ahead. "Neither side was 100% ready but you get that in a Community Shield match," he added.

His counterpart Jose Mourinho was equally pleased with his team's performance. "We controlled the game against the champions so why should we be afraid of the future?" he queried.

The game served as a remainder that both Chelsea and Manchester United are once again front runners for this year's Premier League title.