Manchester United v Wigan Athletic – Community Shield Match Preview and Betting Tip

Betting Tips | Article posted on August 9th, 2025

Manchester United face Wigan Athletic in the traditional curtain raiser to the Premier League season at Wembley on Sunday. This will be the new Manchester United manager David Moyes’ first high profile fixture in Britain, and a rare occasion for Wigan Athletic, in a season in which they will be competing in the Championship. Here is my betting preview of this fixure:

Winner

Impossible to bet against Manchester United here. Wigan upset the odds by beating their neighbours Manchester City in the FA Cup final, but the odds are certainly against them repeating this feat. Backing United doesn’t represent particularly great odds, but it would look to be a pretty safe bet. Best odds available are 4/11 with BetVictor.

Correct Score

In recent seasons, the Community Shield has been a pretty open and attacking affair, and I can see this pattern being repeated during this season’s fixture. United should win comfortably, though, but I’m going to back Wigan to get on the scoresheet and for United to win by three goals to one. You can get 11/1 on this with BetVictor.

Under / Over 2.5 Goals

In concurrence with my prediction in the last market, I believe that the over 2.5 goals bet is the sensible one to go with in this market. Best odds available are 4/7 with BetFair.

Winning Margin

The favourite in this particular market is for United to win by three goals or more. I can understand the logic behind this, but they haven’t exactly set the world on fire during pre-season thus far, and with Wigan having a little extra match sharpness having already begin their season, I think this match will be a little closer than some are predicting. Thus, I recommend going for Manchester United to win by 2 goals in this particular market. You can get odds of 10/3 on this with Bet365.

First Goalscorer

I would rule out all Wigan Athletic players from this particular market immediately, and would only select a bet from the Manchester United players who could play in this game. The United team for this fixture is not entirely certain, with Wayne Rooney seemingly unlikely to play due to transfer speculation, and several United players likely to be rested due to their participation in international football over the summer.

Nonetheless, Robin van Persie is the heavy favourite to score the first goal in this market, with the best odds available for the Dutchman 4/1 with William Hill. This does seem a reasonable bet, and it was noticeable that van Persie was not involved in the Rio Ferdinand testimonial game with Sevilla that took place a couple of days ago.

Other United forward thinking players such as Shinji Kagawa, Javier Hernandez and Nani also merit consideration, and maybe Danny Welbeck can improve on his dismal goal return from last season. But van Persie is my tip for this market, with, I believe, 4/1 representing pretty decent odds for this market.

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)