Quids on the Blues getting their hands on the Quad?

WHO would have believed City and Chelsea both firing blanks in 90 minutes just after United and Liverpool drew 0-0 at Old Trafford?

Well 18 astute Betfred punters did at odds of 168/1, including one fella from south Manchester who wagered £20, winning him £3,360.

It was a blood and thunder affair at Wembley for the Carabao Cup final with Chelsea playing far better than expected – especially after the 6-0 mauling at the Etihad earlier this month.

So the impossible dream of the quad is amazingly still on for Pep Guardiola’s team after the penalty shoot-out.

Before kick-off they were 12/1 to make football history by winning the Carabao, retaining the Premier League, claiming the FA Cup and triumphing in the Champions League for the first time – and are now 8/1 to complete the so-called impossible dream.

As well as City’s dramatic win at Wembley, the final will never be forgotten after the unprecedented nonsense of Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga openly revolting and refusing to be substituted towards the end of extra time.

In 60-odd years of watching football I thought I’d seen everything, but obviously not!

City kicked off knowing United had done them a favour of sorts – drawing with Liverpool at Old Trafford. That put Liverpool back on top of the table but by just one point with the same number of games played.

The latest Betfred Premier League title odds see second placed City 4/9, Liverpool 15/8, Spurs 40/1, United 400/1 while Chelsea and Arsenal have both drifted out to 750/1.

Meanwhile, I have a message for one Ed Woodward at Old Trafford: Give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the job – and give it him now.

I don’t know of any Reds who think we should wait any longer before we give the incumbent the post on a permanent basis.

The Liverpool draw only enhances our Norwegian hero’s position for he beat the odds to get the point.

Betfred have the revitalised Reds at 6/5 for a top-four finish. RAHEEM Sterling says a pep talk with Leroy Sané gave him the confidence to step up and convert the winning penalty in City’s Carabao Cup triumph against Chelsea at Wembley.

The England international’s spot kick, which tickled the underside of the crossbar, ensured the Blues won 4-3 on penalties as the team retained a major trophy for the first time in the club’s history.

And Sterling explained his delight at firing in the winner in his home borough of Wembley.

“It’s a great feeling,” the 24-yearold said. “I’m home, I’m in Wembley, my city. It was a tough game but it’s just amazing. The boys were brilliant today.

“I spoke to Leroy before and I made sure that if I scored that it was the winner. That was all the confidence I needed to make sure it went in.”

Pep Guardiola has now delivered three trophies as City boss, but Sterling said the Catalan could not watch as the shoot-out neared its conclusion.

“He said he didn’t watch it, ‘where did it go?’ I said top bins,” Sterling added, with a grin.

It was not a vintage City performance, with the Blues labouring at times against a Chelsea side they had beaten 6-0 in the Premier League on February 10, but Sterling said the concentration levels gave them the edge at the National Stadium.

“Chelsea played a really good game today,” he explained. “They were solid, it was hard to break them down. Football is 90 minutes, today it was 90 minutes plus extra time.

“We went all the way, we kept focus and we did the business.”

The Blues are still in the hunt for a maiden quadruple.

They beat Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League roundof-16 tie in Germany and are a point off the top of the Premier League table after Liverpool’s draw with United yesterday.

A trip to Swansea City awaits in the FA Cup quarter-final in March but Sterling is focused on each game as it comes. He said: “It’s one trophy down we just need to keep winning games and that’s it. Meanwhile, Vincent Kompany says City will not let themselves ‘get carried away’ after lifting a secondconsecutive Carabao Cup. Despite all the talk of the Quad, the Blues skipper, who came on at half-time at Wembley for the injured Aymeric Laporte, says City’s focus remains on each coming Raheem Sterling game.

“It’s never a habit,” Kompany said after remarkably lifting City’s fourth League Cup in six seasons.