Manchester United - Aston Villa Special: Can Martin O'Neill Outfox Sir Alex?

Memories of 1994 will be in the air as the treble chasers take on a League Cup expert and potential Fergie successor for the first trophy of the English season.

Feb 27, 2010 8:00:00 AM

By Patrick Reilly

More On :  Aston Villa, Manchester United, Martin O'Neill, Sir Alex Ferguson
Carling Cup
Sir Alex Ferguson knows the route to Wembley Way like the back of his hand and has already scooped the League Cup on three occasions (1992, 2006, 2009) but he's also lost three finals (1991, 1994, 2003) and encounters a man with a winning pedigree in this competition. Martin O'Neill guided unfashionable Leicester City to three finals in four years winning the Cup for the Foxes in 1997 and 2000 but a treble was denied by a late winner for Tottenham in 1999. 

For all you stats freaks out there O'Neill's first triumph in 1997 was the last League Cup final to be settled by a replay. With an F.A. Cup quarter-final against Reading to come the Villians won't want to emulate the defeated Middlesbrough side from 1997, who also lost the Wembley showpiece against Chelsea after their League Cup defeat to O'Neill's Leicester, where a certain Emile Heskey got on the scoresheet. 

Fergie has an old score to settle with Aston Villa in this competition. Former Red Devils manager Ron Atkinson denied United an historic domestic treble in 1994 (a feat still to be achieved in England) with a 3-1 win and the Scotsman will be out for revenge. Sir Alex has been in charge for six of United's seven League Cup finals in their history and his (warning: stat attack) three most recent appearances at the famous venue have all gone to penalty shoot outs. The league champions won last year's final against Spurs on spotkicks, lost the F.A. Cup semi-final against Everton in the same manner before Chelsea won the Community Shield 4-1 on penalties last year.
And they say bad luck runs in threes...

Patrick Reilly's Prediction

Manchester United 1-2 Aston Villa: A hard one to call but I'm sticking my neck out on O'Neill to rally his troops and scoop Villa's first trophy since they won this competition back in 1996. Villa broke their Old Trafford victory jinx in December to record their first win there since 1983 and another League Cup triumph won't harm O'Neill's prospects of succeeding Fergie in the Manchester United hotseat.

* Titanbet fancy Martin O'Neill to upset Sir Alex and are 7/2 to be celebrating on Sunday evening. If you're feeling nostalgic for 1994 the Villians are 33/1 to
repeat their 3-1 upset which wrecked United's treble dream.

* The Red Devils are firm favorites at 8/11 to retain their crown with in-form
Wayne Rooney 4/1 to open the scoring. A repeat of their penalty shoot out victory from 2009 is a tasty 11/1 and United are 25/1 to do the treble of Premiership and Champions League with a win on Sunday. 

Who do you think will be going home happy on Sunday evening from Wembley? Goal.com wants to know YOUR predictions...

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