Carling Cup: Man City and Liverpool big favourites after Man Utd shock
Published:The Carling Cup is now looking like a straight fight between Manchester City and Liverpool after Manchester United’s shock quarter final exit at the hands of Championship side Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
Palace saw off a young United side thanks to a brilliant Darren Ambrose strike and Glenn Murray’s extra-time header.
Palace now play fellow tier two team Cardiff City in their semi, after the Welsh side saw off Blackburn Rovers in their last eight game.
The other semi sees Premier League giants Liverpool and Man City face-off in what the odds suggest is essentially a battle to see who will win the trophy at Wembley.
Man City are now the big 5/6 favourites to win their second trophy in as many years while the Reds are out at 7/4.
For Liverpool, their run to the semis is a far cry from the embarrassment of last season when they crashed out to minnows Northampton Town, while City will be looking to go one better than two years ago when they lost their two-legged semi-final against rivals Manchester United.
It’s hard to see the winner coming from outside of those two and the recent results between the sides point to it being an extremely close game.
Their last encounter a fortnight ago saw the game finish 1-1 while, of their previous five games, both teams have won one and drawn three.
There is another semi-final of course and neither team should be discounted.
Cardiff have tasted Wembley football twice in recent years but both times have ended up falling at the final hurdle. They lost the FA Cup final against Portsmouth back in 2008 and the 2010 Championship play-off final against Blackpool.
They are 7/1 third favourites to win the Carling Cup, while Palace are out at 11/1 to triumph in the February final.
