Soccer Betting – Mourinho’s United Face Wigan

Manchester United (-175), at Wigan Athletic (+425), Draw (+300)

Our first chance to see Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United squad will come tomorrow (Saturday, July 16) when the Red Devils visit Wigan Athletic in a friendly at DW Stadium (8:30 AM Eastern).

After several seasons of watching their team play mediocre (at best) soccer, United fans the world over enter this season with a great deal of hope. Though he struggled at the end of his Chelsea tenure, the Portuguese manager has lifted 21 trophies in his career and is widely regarded as one of the best managers on the globe.

His mere presence has sportsbooks backing Man United, who are now listed at 4/1 to win the EPL in 2016-17, only behind Manchester City (3/1). That’s despite United limping to a fifth-place finish and a spot in the Europa League last year.

Mourinho’s somewhat defensive style of play could be a nice fit with United. In 2015-16, Man U allowed a league-low 35 goals. The manager’s real task will be to improve the offense, which scored a disappointing 49 goals last year.

While the Man U players will be playing to impress their new manager, don’t expect Wigan to just roll over. The team was promoted from League One to the Championship last season and are hoping to show that they can compete with top-flight Premier League squads.

Wigan is learning quickly that they’ll need to take their game to a new level this year, though. The team has already played two friendlies this season, and both ended in a 0-0 draw. Striker Will Grigg, who led League One with 25 goals last year, will again have a hard time cracking the resolute United defense on Saturday.

The last time these two teams met was back in 2013 in an FA Community Shield game when United won 2-0. Take Manchester United to win in Mourinho’s debut.

Pick: Man United (-175).

(Photo Credit: Ronnie Macdonald (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/])