Carling Cup Final Preview – Aston Villa vs Manchester United
Rooney will be key
The Premier League’s meanest defence takes on the League’s best attack this sunday as Wayne Rooney will be the man taking centre stage once more.
Rooney will be looking to make amends after missing last years showpiece final through illness and he has a chance to help United to retain a cup trophy for the first time in their history.
The Manchester United and England striker has been in sensational form this season hitting 27 goals in 35 appearances in all competitions and it will be up to Aston Villa to stop him for a third time this season. Rooney says he is eager to play in Sunday’s Carling Cup Final.
He explains: “This is why you join a club like Manchester United, to win trophies and play in cup finals. Playing at Wembley is still a great feeling. Hopefully, I’ll play Sunday and we can win the trophy.”
The England man is well on the way to being the 4th manchester united player in a row to win PFA player of the year and Villa will surely have to keep him quiet if they are to win their first trophy for 14 years.
Aston Villa however, will have to overcome a team that they have beaten just twice in 37 attempts. This Aston Villa team seems to be made of sterner stuff these days though after taking four points from Manchester United this season including an impressive 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neil is relishing the challenge of bringing back the glory days to Villa Park, the former leicester boss won the trophy twice in his time their. “This is a fantastic challenge,” O’Neill said.
“I am well aware of the history of this football club. Trying to restore it to its days of former glory seems a long way away, but why not try? It is nearly 25 years since they won the European Cup but that is the dream.”
Manchester United who, at times, have looked a shadow of the team that has won 3 consecutive premier league titles and been to one champions league are going in to the game without Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea and Anderson.
However the return of Nemanja Vidic to the starting line up will be a boost to the defence that was exposed badly by Everton and at times by AC Milan.
The semi finals have re-ignited a lot of interest into the carling cup this year, Aston Villa’s stunning 7-4 win against Blackburn followed by Manchester United’s epic late winner in the manchester derby were arguably two of the games of the season.
Manchester United will rightly be favourites this Sunday, but this is not the same Manchester United from 2008, and Aston Villa are an ever improving side.
Match Prediction:- Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United, Wayne Rooney to have a good game but Agbonlahor to steal the show.
match odds:- Manchester United: 4/5, Draw: 13/5, Aston Villa: 7/2
Possible starting XI\’s: Aston Villa: Friedel, Warnock, Collins, Dunne, Cuellar, Petrov, Milner, Downing, A Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey
Manchester United : Foster, Neville, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes, Park, Valencia, Rooney
Martin O’Neill: Crunch time for Villa
February 19, 2010 by Ashley Preece · Comments
Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill has called for calm ahead of a big week for the Villians.
O'Neill on the verge of guiding Villa to silverwear.
Ferguson dismisses quintuple chances
March 20, 2009 by Gary Evans · Comments
Sir Alex Ferguson has played down Manchester United’s chances of completing an historic quintuple this season.
The United boss is keeping his feet firmly on the ground despite his side already capturing the FIFA World Club Cup and the Carling Cup.
The Red Devils also remain firmly on course to claim an 18th league title this season with a four point lead and a game in hand over nearest rivals Chelsea and Liverpool. Read more
Carling Cup- The Final
February 26, 2009 by Niall Sullivan · Comments
On Sunday, Premiership leaders Manchester United will be looking to kick off their trophy push with a win over underachieving Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.
The Reds, who stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to 7 points at the weekend, have dominated the cups so far this season.
As well as this impending cup final, United have another tough game against Inter Milan in the Champions League, a F.A Cup 6th round tie against Swansea or Fulham and are making great strides in the Premier League.
Added to this the Charity Shield and World Club Championship wins, United can now look realistically at winning everything this season.
Their opponents Tottenham have had an up and down season with another change in manager and more struggles in the bottom half of the league.
Harry Redknapp, who replaced Juande Ramos in October, has given the club more impetus and brought back former favourites Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane, who has been installed as captain on his return.
Redknapp has made no secret of where his priorities lie for this season. He threatened to send a weakened team to United in the F.A Cup, and played an under strength side in the midweek defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk as the league is of imperative importance to him.
The Carling Cup was a mere distraction when Redknapp took over but now with the chance to win it for the second year in a row, it is now being pushed to the front of the queue.
A win for either side will do much to boost morale as they both fight it out at very different ends of the table.
Coyle’s Clarets Cup Challenge
December 1, 2008 by JamieSmith · Comments
Burnley manager Owen Coyle will attempt on Tuesday night to knock a third London club out of the Carling Cup in a clash with Arsenal that the Lancashire club has dubbed ‘Capital Punishment III’.
The Clarets face Arsenal at Turf Moor in front of a sell-out crowd, having knocked out Fulham and triumphed over Chelsea in a famous penalty shoot out win to get to the Quarter-Final stage.
