Man Utd v Wigan: Back Latics to score again at Wembley

They may have produced one of the great FA Cup shocks last season when defeating Manchester City in the final back in May, but it’s hard to make the case for a similar upset in Sunday’s Community Shield game against Manchester United.

Relegated Wigan are a huge 9/1 to defeat United and claim their first ever Community Shield title, while the 19-time winners are unsurprisingly 3/10 odds-on favourites to make it shield number 20.

Both sides are under the leadership of new men, and David Moyes will be looking to take a leaf out of counterpart Owen Coyle’s book by beginning his reign with a comprehensive win.

Last week, Coyle’s Wigan career got off to a flyer with a 4-0 thumping of Barnsley at Oakwell, with four separate goalscorers highlighting that the Latics have goals spread throughout the side.

Keen to send out a similar signal of intent, Moyes will be expecting something similar from the title-winning squad.

United have shown themselves more than capable of spreading the goals too this pre-season, with 16 goals scored in seven games coming from ten players. But, worryingly for Moyes, they’ve shipped a few too.

Twelve goals have been scored against United this pre-season, including three in a shock 3-1 loss to an undercooked Sevilla side in Rio Ferdinand’s testimonial game on Friday.

And with Community Shield games traditionally high-scoring – 18 goals have been scored in the previous four – the pick of the punts tomorrow looks like being the 4/5 on offer for both teams to score.

Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Robin van Persie (7/2 to score first), missed out against Sevilla so should be expected to return to the United side on Sunday, while Wigan are likely to remain unchanged from last week’s comprehensive win, with Grant Holt again leading the line – Holt is 10/1 to score first. New signing James McClean could also feature.

Wigan have a torrid record against United, having won only once in 17 games against the champions since their first ever meeting in 2005, while their past two encounters have ended in resounding 4-0 losses. United to win 4-1 tomorrow is available at 16/1, while over 3.5 goals can be backed at 6/5.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.