CARABAO LEAGUE FINAL SUNDAY: We preview Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final between ASTON VILLA v MAN CITY with a recommended BETDAQ bet and extended match stats.
ASTON VILLA V MANCHESTER CITY
4.30pm We have the Carabao Cup Final on Sunday afternoon and it’s very much a David v Goliath situation! Aston Villa shocked everyone when beating Leicester in the semi-final. We seen their fans run onto the pitch at FT and it shows that despite many teams not playing their first XI’s in the competition, the majority of fans still love a big day at Wembley.
The match odds at the time of writing currently trade; Aston Villa 19.0, Manchester City 1.19 and the draw is 9.0. The market isn’t giving Aston Villa much hope, and it’s hard to argue. City managed to come from behind to beat Real Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League, and although they haven’t been at their best this season – they still should get the job done here.
Aston Villa are just outside the relegation zone in the Premier League table. They got a little lucky in this competition when Liverpool played a Youth XI against them, however they battled very hard against Leicester so they deserve to be here. This is definitely a World Cup Final situation for Aston Villa, and we expect nothing short of playing for their lives! It’s fair to say that they might not have the class to cope with City, but they’ll be battling hard.
We expect Manchester City to win, but Aston Villa can keep the score line respectable. Any Other Away Win (Manchester City to score four or more and win) is trading 3.0 in the Correct Score market and that looks a good value lay. City haven’t been banging in the goals for fun lately and it’s hard to see Villa playing an attacking game here – especially at the start. Under 2.5 goals is also worthy of consideration at 2.92 but we prefer the Any Other Away Win lay.
BETDAQ BEST BET:
Lay Any Other Away Win at 3.0.
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQAstMci
MATCH STATS
- This will be the 60th League Cup final and the 57th different match-up of teams in the final – Aston Villa and Manchester City have met four times previously in the competition, with Villa winning three times and City once.
- Aston Villa are competing in their ninth League Cup final, with only Liverpool playing in more (12) – they have won the trophy five times, most recently in 1996 against Leeds United.
- Manchester City have won the League Cup six times, a tally surpassed only by Liverpool (eight). City have won the trophy in four of the last six seasons, including each of the last two; the only team to win it three years in a row are Liverpool, who won it in four consecutive years between 1981 and 1984.
- Man City have won seven of their last eight matches against Aston Villa in all competitions (D1), scoring 26 goals and conceding just three across those games.
- This will be the first ever meeting between Aston Villa and Man City at Wembley and only their second ever at a neutral venue, with Man City winning 6-1 at Leeds Road in Huddersfield in the 1933-34 FA Cup semi-final.
- Only one of the last 10 teams to lose the second leg of their League Cup semi-final but progress to the final have gone on to win the trophy, with Manchester United doing so in 2016-17 after losing against Hull City in their semi-final second leg before beating Southampton in the final.
- Manchester City have progressed or won the final of each of their last 18 domestic English cup ties (FA/League Cup), the longest run since Chelsea between October 2006 and February 2008 (also 18 in a row), whose run was ended by a League Cup final defeat against Spurs.
- Since Brian Little won the League Cup in 1996 with Aston Villa, an English manager has picked up the trophy in just one of the last 23 seasons, with Steve McClaren winning it with Middlesbrough in 2004.
- Aston Villa are the fourth newly-promoted Premier League side to reach a League Cup, and the first since Wigan Athletic in 2005-06, who lost 4-0 to Man Utd. The other two won the trophy – Leicester City in 1996-97 and Blackburn Rovers in 2001-02.
- Man City striker Sergio Agüero has scored nine goals in his last five starts against Aston Villa, all in the Premier League, including a hat-trick in a 6-1 win in January. The Argentine has scored five and assisted two more in nine appearances at Wembley for City, though he hasn’t scored or assisted in his last two games there.
- Aston Villa have had 12 different scorers (excluding own goals) in the League Cup this season, four more than any other side and five more than Man City. The last team to have more in a campaign was Bristol City in 2017-18 (14).
- Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has been directly involved in nine goals in his last five appearances at Wembley for club and country, scoring seven goals and assisting two more.
- Aston Villa have scored 19 League Cup goals this season, with Manchester City the last team to score 20 in a season back in 2013-14 (22). The Villans last scored more in a campaign during 1985-86, scoring 25 times.
- This will be Man City manager Pep Guardiola 25th final as a top-flight manager, winning 20 of the previous 24, including all five with City (two Community Shields, two League Cups, one FA Cup). Four of his previous seven finals have gone to penalty shootouts (W3 L1).
- Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has managed in two previous Wembley finals, losing the Football League Trophy final in 2014-15 with Walsall against Bristol City but winning 2-1 in last season’s Championship play-off final with Villa against Derby.
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