Champions League Group Stage Week 1 Game Preview: Bayer Leverkusen @ Manchester United

Champions League Group Stage Week 1 Game Preview:

 

Bayer Leverkusen @ Manchester United

Game Time: Tuesday, 2:45 PM EST

Manchester United is as usual one of today's biggest public teams, with the oddmakers currently giving them a 55% chance to win, something that I completely disagree by the way. Their new head coach David Moyes is definitely not Sir Alex Ferguson and with that, Man Utd has been struggling on this early season. I'm not even talking about results, as getting a home draw against Chelsea or losing 1-0 at Liverpool isn't a big drama, but the truth is that they have been having several subpar offensive performances on this early season. They struggled to create scoring chances against Chelsea and Liverpool, but last week on a favorable matchup at home against Crystal Palace to bounce back and make an offensive statement. Even though they won that game by 2-0, their performance didn't convince me at all. The chemistry between the midfielders is lacking most of the time, with Robin van Persie being completely alone in the front. Man Utd's is normally a very quick team, with strong wingers, but Valencia, Nani and Young have been quite poor so far on this season. In fact, Man Utd was very benefited by the referees against Crystal Palace with a penalty kick resulting from a foul that clearly happened outside the area.

On the other hand, Bayer Leverkusen is clearly German's third team after Dortmund and Bayern, who are at the top of the European soccer right now. So, it's no surprise that Leverkusen is currently #3 in the Bundesliga, with four wins on their first five games. Just like Man Utd, they look forward to play using their wingers, but unlike Man Utd, Leverkusen is in excellent form right with Sidney Sam and Heung-Min Son creating a lot of scoring chances in both wings. Therefore, I expect a tight game, where Man Utd shouldn't really have a 55% winning chance, as they are only getting this treatment because of the team's reputation and not from their current level.

Late Info: The only issue with Leverkusen is that they have two key midfielders questionable for tonight: Gonzalo Castro and Lars Bender, something that makes me think twice in taking them tonight. I was also hoping for a AH +1 line, but I also don't think I'll be lucky in getting such excellent line in here.