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The destination of the season’s first domestic trophy will be decided at Wembley, where inaugural winners Aston Villa face champions Man United
In the Carling Cup’s earlier rounds Sir Alex Ferguson rotated his squad but with local bragging rights at stake in the semi-final double-header against Manchester City, the United boss abandoned that policy and with silverware on offer he is likely to field a strong line-up in the final.
Subsequently, the holders are Betfred’s 4/9 favourites to retain their title while Totesport make them 10/11 to do so in normal time.
Martin O’Neill’s men have taken four points from their two matches against United in the league so they will be confident of upsetting odds of 7/4 (Ladbrokes) for them to lift the trophy and also Stan James’ 7/2 chalked against a Villa victory after 90 minutes.
However, the pair could cancel each other out so there’s every chance that like last year’s final, which was decided on penalties, draw backers who can obtain odds of 5/2 with Victor Chandler, will be the ones bashing the bookies.
A modest wager on both United (10/1, 888Sport) and Villa (12/1, bet365) to prevail on penalties might be the way forward then, especially as the form of Wayne Rooney, who is 9/2 at William Hill to break the deadlock, makes a goalless encounter a little too risky at 9/1 with Betdaq.
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