Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur Preview & Live Score: Carling Cup Final 2009

(This entry was originally posted on Saturday, February 28th, 2009)

Manchester United takes on Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup 2009 final on Sunday (1 March 2009), looking to clinch the second title in their pursuit of an unique quintuple this season. United already won the title of FIFA World Club Cup Football 2008 this season and is in the right track to win Premier league, FA Cup and Champions League titles in what would make it an unprecedented achievement for the Alex Ferguson boys who are now in scintillating form in all competition. Defending Champion Tottenham Hotspur will not leave any stone unturned to defend their league cup title defeating high-flying Manchester United in the final.

Match: Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur, Carling Cup (League Cup) Final 2009

Date: 1 March 2009, Sunday

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London

Time: 15:00 GMT

Live TV: Sky Sports 1 and Zee Sports

Manchester United has been in an excellent form over the last couple of seasons and since reaching the top of premier league, United only increased their lead in the league table and has 7-point lead at this moment over the second-placed Liverpool. In the presence of defenders like Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, and veteran goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, Manchester United went on a record number of games without conceding any goal, which was ended in a 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers last week. Manchester United drew 0-0 with Italian giants Inter Milan in the midweek fixture of Champions league.

Making their second step towards an incredible looking target of winning five titles in one season is not the only thing up for grab for the Ferguson men. Rather, Manchester United would like to win only their third league cup title on the back of some promising young prospects like Darron Gibson, Jonny Evans and Danny Welbeck who all have shown excellent performance throughout the Carling Cup 2008-09. It is expected that United manager Sir Alex Ferguson would continue showing his faith in his young players in the tournament final too and he might rest some of his top guns like Cristiano Ronaldo for the tie with Tottenham Hotspur in tomorrow’s Carling Cup final. Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez did not start against Inter Milan, but they might feature in Manchester United attack against Tottenham Hotspur, in what Dimitar Berbatov might be left in the substitutes’ bench.

In the midfield Michael Carrick will be crucial for United as the English international has been in an excellent form this season. Veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs is also showing some of his best for United at this age. In the presence of the likes of Carrick, Giggs, Paul Scholes and Darron Gibson, their midfield is expected to be a combination of youth and experience.

Tottenham Hotspur was underdog before last year’s Carling Cup final against Chelsea, but they surprisingly defeated the Blues 2-1 thanks to an extra time goal from Jonathan Woodgate. In the same way, Spurs will go into Sunday’s final as underdog against United and can take inspiration from last year’s triumph in the competition. The North London club started off to a bad start to this season that eventually resulted in the departure of former manager Juande Ramos. However, since Harry Redknapp took over as Tottenham manager, the club started to find its way back to their top form and has successfully made their back-to-back final in Carling Cup, though they lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 last week in UEFA Cup and currently secures the 14th place with 28 points, sitting within 3 points of relegation zone.

So, Redknapp boys have no other way to win silverware for the club, except tomorrow’s Carling Cup final at the Wembley Stadium. Redknapp’s attacking style of football matches with the same style followed by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Redknapp knows it very well how to outperform Manchester United in a big game like the upcoming match. In fact, Redknapp’s Portsmouth successfully defeated Manchester United last season in the final of FA Cup. Tottenham fans would like Redknapp to bring out the same success that he for Portsmouth last season. Tottenham will miss midfielder Wilson Palacios as he is cup tied, as would be applicable for Carlo Cudicini and Robbie Keane. Jermain Defoe is not available for the match due to injury.

Tottenham Hotspur features an experienced defensive pair in Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate. So, United strikers would not find it too easy to beat the duo. Luka Modric will be man in the midfield who will carry a big part of Tottenham hopes and their success will depend a lot on the performance of Modric. In the up front, Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko will be deployed, but he is expected to face a tough challenge from Ferdinand and Vidic.

Live on Sky Sports and Zee Sports TV Channels

Sky Sports 1 television channel is going to telecast the match live for the England fans. Alongside English fans, football fans from Ireland, Scotland and some other European countries will also be able to watch the match live on Sky Sports 1 TV channel.

Zee Sports will also telecast the Carling Cup final between Manchester Untied and Tottenham Hotspur for the football fans of sub-continent. Zee Sports is an Indian television channel which covers Italian Serie A and Dutch football leagues too. So, if you are currently in South Asia, then you can enjoy the match on Zee Sports.

Online Live Score and Updates

Here, I am giving some live score and updates websites from where you can get the live updates of the match:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Goal.com

Footie Scorez

Well, I think, Manchester United is clearly favorite against Tottenham Hotspur. The Red Devils are in excellent form now and have a very big squad with a number of quality players in each position. However, you can not just write off the defending champion Tottenham Hotspur yet, considering their performance in Carling Cup this season. Moreover, they have a manager like Redknapp who always goes for attacking football and has recent success in cup competition too. So, overall I think, Manchester United is favorite, but there is every possibility Tottenham can successfully defend their Carling Cup title. At last, I just want to experience a hard-fought affair at Wembley on Sunday.