Carling Cup Final – Rooney Specials
The first silverware of the season is up for grabs this week as Aston Villa and Manchester United contest the Carling Cup final, and once again all eyes will be on Wayne Rooney. The England man took his tally for the season to 27 during the midweek stroll against West Ham, and having found that killer instinct inside the penalty area this season, he now looks the complete striker and is, on current form, the finest attacking player in Europe. All of which bodes well for England as we build up to the World Cup –Rooney is now just 11/1 to take the Golden Boot incidentally – but it’s a rather worrying prospect for Villa as they face the holders in Sunday’s final.So influential is Rooney in this United side that an off-day for their main man seems to have a detrimental effect on the whole side – the recent defeat at Everton is a good example – and as such it’s the hottest striker in the land who is the focus of Blue Square’s Cup final Player Specials.
I’ll start with the bet that leaps out at me when I look at these prices, and that’s Rooney to score a header at 6/1. Previously one of the few weak areas of his game, his brilliant pair of headers in the San Siro against AC Milan were followed by two more headed goals in the West Ham game this week, and with Antonio Valencia particularly accurate with his crossing, that looks a wonderful price. The wide open spaces down the flanks at Wembley won’t do this bet any harm either, and it would be a real surprise if that 6/1 held up.
Being slightly less ambitious with the price, another solid (if rather obvious) bet is the score/win double. Blue Square offer 12/5 for Rooney to score and Manchester United to win the game in 90 mins, and to put that in perspective, it’s a bet that would have copped in 6 of United’s last 8 matches, so it’s surely worth a few quid at that price.
Having fired a brace in 2 of his last 3 matches, you can get 25/1 about him to score a hat-trick in the match, which may not sound like the greatest of prices, but consider that he takes penalties and already has a couple of hat-tricks this season, and it may just be a tempter. To finish the exaltation, our man is 5/2 to be voted the official Man of the Match, and given that sponsors and pundits don’t tend to stray too far from what’s expected of them, any kind of performance should see him take the award.
Click here to see Blue Square’s full range of Wayne Rooney specials!
Author: Stephen Irvine
Comments
njemfr | 6 Apr 2010 at 04:04