2010 Football League Cup Final

The 2010 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the 2009–10 Football League Cup, the 50th season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and The Football League. The match will be played at Wembley Stadium on 28 February 2010. The final and both semi-finals will be broadcast live on the BBC and on Sky Sports. The winner will be guaranteed a UEFA Europa League place for the 2010–11 season. It will be contested by Aston Villa and the holders, Manchester United.
==Background==
Out of the 172 previous meetings between the two sides, Manchester United had won 87 and Aston Villa had won 49, with the remaining 36 games finishing as draws; however, Villa's record in the League Cup against United was markedly better, with four wins in six matches between them. United's only League Cup win over Aston Villa came in October 1975, when they won 2–1 at Villa Park in the third round. The only previous meeting between the two teams in the final of the competition came in 1994, when Villa won 3–1 and United winger Andrei Kanchelskis became the first player to be sent off in a League Cup final.
Both Manchester United and Aston Villa have played in seven Football League Cup finals, but Manchester United have only won three compared to Villa's five. However, United's most recent victory came in 2009 – when they beat Tottenham Hotspur on penalties – whereas Villa's last League Cup title came in 1996, when they beat Leeds United 3–0.
==Pre-match==
===Ticketing===
Since 2008, the final of the Football League Cup has been played at Wembley Stadium in London. The stadium has a capacity of 90,000 spectators, Both clubs chose to limit their initial applications to season ticket holders, with priority given to those supporters who had attended more cup games during the season so far.
===Officials===
Staffordshire-based referee Phil Dowd was named as the referee for the 2010 League Cup final on 1 February 2010. His only previous cup final experience came in 2006, when he was the fourth official for the 2006 FA Cup Final. His assistants for the match will be Shaun Procter-Green from Lincolnshire and David Richardson from West Yorkshire, with Lee Mason from Lancashire acting as fourth official.
==Match==
===Details===
{| style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"	ASTON VILLA: 	ASTON VILLA: 	ASTON VILLA: 	ASTON VILLA:
 	 	 	 	
GK 	1 	Brad Friedel 	 	
RB 	24 	Carlos Cuéllar 	 	
CB 	5 	Richard Dunne 	 	
CB 	29 	James Collins 	 	
LB 	25 	Stephen Warnock 	 	
RM 	7 	Ashley Young 	 	
CM 	8 	James Milner 	 	
CM 	19 	Stiliyan Petrov 	 	
LM 	6 	Stewart Downing 	 	
CF 	18 	Emile Heskey 	 	
CF 	11 	Gabriel Agbonlahor	 	
Substitutes: 	Substitutes: 	Substitutes: 	 	
GK 	22 	Brad Guzan 	 	
DF 	2 	Luke Young 	 	
DF 	23 	Habib Beye 	 	
MF 	4 	Steve Sidwell 	 	
MF 	16 	Fabian Delph 	 	
FW 	10 	John Carew 	 	
FW 	14 	Nathan Delfouneso 	 	
Manager: 	Manager: 	Manager: 	 	
Martin O'Neill	Martin O'Neill	Martin O'Neill 	Martin O'Neill	
MATCH OFFICIALS
*Assistant referees:
**Shaun Procter-Green (Lincolnshire)
**David Richardson (West Yorkshire)
*Fourth official: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
MAN OF THE MATCH
*Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)	
MATCH RULES
*90 minutes.
*30 minutes of extra time if necessary.
*Penalty shootout if scores still level.
*Seven named substitutes.
*Maximum of three substitutions.
==Road to Wembley==
-See also - Football League Cup 2009-10
Manchester United 	Manchester United 	Manchester United 	Round 	Aston Villa 	Aston Villa 	Aston Villa
Manchester United 	1–0 	Wolverhampton Wanderers 	Round 3 	Aston Villa 	1–0 	Cardiff City
Barnsley 	0–2 	Manchester United 	Round 4 	Sunderland 	0–0(1–3p) 	Aston Villa
Manchester United 	2–0 	Tottenham Hotspur 	Round 5 	Portsmouth 	2–4 	Aston Villa
Manchester City 	2–1 	Manchester United 	Semi-final	Blackburn Rovers 	0–1 	Aston Villa
Manchester United 	3–1 	Manchester City 	Semi-final	Aston Villa 	6–4 	Blackburn Rovers
Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate	Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate	Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate	Semi-final	Aston Villa won 7–4 on aggregate	Aston Villa won 7–4 on aggregate	Aston Villa won 7–4 on aggregate
==See also==
*2009–10 Football League Cup
*2010 FA Cup Final
==References==
2010