Villa 13-5 for Cup glory after stunning the Reds
ASTON VILLA stunned Liverpool with a 2-1 victory at Wembley on Sunday to reach the FA Cup final and they are 13-5 to lift the trophy after facing holders Arsenal on May 30.
Tim Sherwood’s side, who had been 11-4 to qualify pre-match, defied in-play odds of 19-1 on Betfair’s exchange after Liverpool led through Philippe Coutinho to land their comeback semi-final success.
Christian Benteke equalised Coutinho’s opener and Fabian Delph won the match, although Villa will have to up their game in the final with Arsenal rated 1-3 favourites to retain the cup.
It was a bitter blow for Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool and their bad day got worse as Manchester
City moved seven points clear of them in the hunt for a Champions League spot.
Manuel Pellegrini said in advance of the West Ham game that it would be a “disaster” for his City team to miss out on the Champions League, but a comfortable 2-0 success over the Hammers made their top-four position far more secure.
City, who have played one match more than Liverpool, are 1-16 with Hills and Paddy Power to finish in the Champions League qualifying positions.
A James Collins own goal put City in front and Sergio Aguero added a second with his 20th Premier League strike of the campaign. The Argentinian forward was cut to 8-13 by BoyleSports and bet365 to win the Premier League Golden Boot.
Harry Kane, a 6-5 shot, later joined Aguero at the top of the scoring charts with the final goal in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over Newcastle as Spurs moved up to sixth – the final qualifying spot for the Europa League.
Spurs are 10-11 for a top-six finish with Southampton 8-11, although seventh will also be good enough for Europe if Arsenal win the FA Cup.
Celtic’s treble dream is over after they lost a thrilling William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final 3-2 against Inverness after extra-time.
Inverness are 2-7 to lift the cup with opponents Falkirk 11-4.