Carabao Cup Final Betting Preview

The Carabao Cup will celebrate its 60th year as a major cup competition when Manchester City clash with Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium. City, the defending champions, will be battling to retain the title for a third consecutive year and subsequently become only the second team to do so after Liverpool did so during their dominant years in the 1980s.

Back then, the Reds won the League Cup in four consecutive seasons from 1981-1984. Now, Pep Guardiola can win City's seventh trophy in this competition and secure the club's fifth in the last seven seasons, as well.

On the other hand, Villa go into the final seeking their sixth trophy, which will bring them level with the Sky Blues on all-time Carabao Cup titles. It will also be the Villians' last major trophy since their most recent League Cup win in 1996, besides their Championship Playoff win. in 2018-19.

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Unsurprisingly, City are huge favourites to reign supreme at Wembley on Sunday. England's current domestic champions are at 1/7 to win in 90 minutes with Sky Bet but are 1/16 to lift the trophy, come Sunday evening.

Guardiola's men are the defending champions of all three major domestic trophies in English football, although, having all but lost their Premier League title to Liverpool, the League Cup and the FA Cup will now surely be on the Spaniard's mind. However, it's important to consider the value of the Champions League to City and how much their resilient display at the Bernabeu will affect them this weekend.

As a result of their win over Real Madrid, expect the likes of Phil Foden and Joao Cancelo to come in, although, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and David Silva will most likely start, considering they didn't in midweek. On the other hand, starting players such as Foden is not exactly a bad option to have and the Englishman could easily star on Sunday and help win City's third title in a row.

Elsewhere for City, Aguero and Silva stayed on the bench at the Bernabeu, which will no doubt strike fear into the hearts of the Villa faithful when they inevitably step onto the Wembley grass. Sky Bet are offering a price boost for the Argentine to bag a hat-trick at 10/1, just as he did against them in January, whilst you can get the fresh-legged Silva at 3/1 to score anytime.

Villa are no strangers to Wembley, having returned to the top-flight via the Championship Playoffs back in 2019 and lost to Fulham there the year prior to last. Sunday will also be the first time the boys in claret and blue have stepped out at Wembley in a League Cup final since they lost to Manchester United back in 2010.

Dean Smith's side are currently in very poor form having lost their last three games, including must-win ties against Bournemouth and Southampton. As a result, Villa are just one point clear of the relegation zone and have now conceded 20 goals since we turned into 2020, including six the last time Villa met with City in January.

Because of their poor form and recent drubbing against the Manchester side, the five-time champions are at an almighty 18/1 to win in 90 minutes but are cut down to 7/1 to lift the trophy at the end of the match.

With this in mind, the 50/1 price with Sky Bet for Villa to win in extra time is perhaps worth a punt, as, after all, this is Wembley, this is a cup final and anything can happen; just ask Ben Watson. Put it this way, I'm not sure too many players would want to mark Tyrone Mings in the 115th minute at 0-0.

In last season's League Cup final, both Chelsea and City failed to score in 120 minutes and had to settle the tie on penalties, where the Sky Blues won 4-3 in the infamous Kepa Arrizabalaga-gate. However, Guardiola's rampant side destroyed Watford in the FA Cup final a few months later, beating the Hornets 6-0 in what was only the third time a team have scored so many in an FA Cup final.

As a result, you can get prices on City to score in both halves at 2/5, score +3 goals at 8/13, whilst you grab both Aguero and Sterling at 12/5 to score anytime. You can also get the in-form Kevin De Bruyne and Sterling to bag at 5/1, which could be worth a punt considering the latter scored twice at Wembley last season in the FA Cup.

Sky Bet are also offering price boosts for De Bruyne to score from outside the area at 6/1 and Riyad Mahrez to score first at 11/2, cut from 4/1 and 9/2, respectively.

As Villa are such underdogs on Sunday, there are plenty of markets out there that are worth a check. Indeed, Smith's men have scored only exactly half of City's Premier League goals with 34 so far, but have still managed to bag 13 so far in the EFL Cup - more than any of team and one more than City's 12.

Now, you can Villa to win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 at a very appealing 22/1 with Sky Bet, whilst offers such as for them to lead at half time at 11/1 and to draw in 90 minutes at 7/1 are also promising; this is a Wembley cup final after all.

As mentioned, Villa the top scorers this Carabao Cup campaign, with Conor Hourihane bagging four in their route to the final - the Irishman is 6/1 to score anytime on Sunday. Another player who has not been shy of a goal is Jack Grealish, who has nine goals across the board thus far and has easily been Villa's best player this season.

The 24-year-old is 9/2 to score anytime and has been boosted from 16/1 to 20/1 to score from outside the penalty area at Wembley.