As seasons go, this one has been one full of interesting twists and turns.

The battle for the Premier League title is still wide open, the race for fourth place even wider, and there have been plenty of upsets in the cups - both domestically and in European competitions.

But as fascinating as the build-up in all these various contests has been, there comes a point when you want things to start coming to a conclusion. There is only so much football foreplay you can take before you need some sort of climax.

Well, today's the day when things start coming to a head, with this season's first silverware set to be awarded when Aston Villa and Manchester United battle it out for Carling Cup glory at Wembley.

There was a time, not too long ago, when winning this trophy was seen as football's poor, unwanted achievement. A contest you took part in because you had to, not particularly because you wanted to.

However, I don't think that is the case so much anymore. The Carling Cup is still not top priority for most teams as they sit down and plan their seasons, but they are taking it a bit more seriously than they did in the past.

Which is why I think this afternoon's contest could be an absolute cracker.

In one corner you have Martin O'Neill's young Villa team which is still looking to turn their considerable promise into actual achievement. There can be no doubting Villa are showing all sorts of potential, but now is the time when that potential needs to be turned into tangible results.

Although they are still in the hunt for fourth place and into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, I think they know today's game affords them their best opportunity of proper success this season.

In the other corner you have Manchester United, defending the trophy they won last season. It would be wrong to suggest the Carling Cup is United's biggest priority this season - they have far greater aspirations - but Sir Alex Ferguson has been around long enough to know that winning any trophy is important.

It's like insurance. If everything else goes pear-shaped at least you have something to show for the season. It's a mentality that Arsene Wenger may want to start using in the future, instead of persistently playing children in cup competitions.

I fully expect Villa to put out their first-choice 11 at Wembley, while United will field a strong side with maybe a few of the youngsters who played in earlier rounds.

And the combination of those two line-ups should, in theory at least, make it an evenly-matched contest.

But who will come out on top? Well, I could be bashful and say it is too close to call, but that's just not what I do. Although the match will almost certainly be tight I will be putting a few euros on Villa.

Despite what I said about United appreciating the importance of a trophy - any trophy - I still think the fact that Sir Alex has his eyes on bigger prizes will give Villa a slight edge. O'Neill needs to get his hands on some silverware soon to prove he is taking Villa in the right direction and I think that moment will come today.

So, considering my prediction history in this column, you all know what you have to do now.

Stick a fiver on United.

Roberto Mancini is feeling the heat

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Roberto Mancini brought in by Manchester City to take the club to the next level?

The Italian may have had a decent start to his time at Eastlands, but it has all started to go a bit awry in recent weeks.

The club have only won two out of their last eight games and, during that time, have crashed out of the Carling Cup to local rivals United and out of the FA Cup to Stoke City.

They are now left with only fourth place to fight for, and their current league form suggests that too could end up being a bit of a struggle. Defeats to Hull and Everton in the past month or so, combined with draws against Stoke and Liverpool are hardly a show of force.

When Mark Hughes was unceremoniously sacked earlier this season, City's billionaire owners insisted it was down to results not being good enough. But things, if not worse, have certainly been no better under his replacement.

I wondered at the time how the club would justify keeping Mancini in place if his results didn't match up to those of Hughes. And that is exactly the position they find themselves in now.

In fact, Mancini himself has already started to use the 'pressure' word, although only to deny he was feeling it. But despite his denials I think it is safe to say he is. It's inevitable at a club with such lofty ambitions.

So will he get the chop? I doubt it. If City's owners have a shred of football intelligence - and the jury is still very much out on that one - they will let Mancini have a pre-season with the club, buy the players he wants, and start afresh next August. Chopping and changing managers every few months will never bring them the success they believe their wealth entitles them too.

But just one or two dodgy results at the beginning of next season and I think the revolving doors of the manager's office at Eastland will start spinning again.

And a suave, sophisticated Italian will come shooting out of them in a blur of good looks, hair and scarf.

Your say

"If coincidences do happen, then the last couple of lines in your column last Sunday qualify as such.

It came just after last week when I again started giving my regular Economics of Sport class at the University of Malta's Institute of Physical Education and Sport. The first session always includes an interactive discussion of the exact definition of what qualifies as 'a sport'.

"The one we often end up using is that of the Council of Europe (CoE), which reads as follows (I highlight its more salient-for-discussion parts): 'Sports means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships, or obtaining results in competition at all levels.'

"Now, surely, your acceptance of curling, simultaneous to your refusal of figure skating, as being sports, is both contradictory and wrong when viewed and analysed in terms of this definition.

"If dance sport, and now powerboat racing, qualify as sport for the International Olympic Committee, and these, and other sports all differ very much from each other in nature, but still satisfy the above definition, then why not figure skating?

"If then, on the other hand, you would wish to argue that the CoE's definition is not good enough for you, and that, perhaps, we need another new definition of sport, then I might come your way.

"The EU, for example, has been notorious for its slowness to fully recognise the specifities of sport. The Lisbon Treaty may have moved slightly forward from the sparse references to sport we find in the Amsterdam Treaty, but it seems to be happy to leave this important component of the leisure industry to the international federations. But then perhaps that's much better than to see ridiculous politicians messing up this happy area of our lives too.

"When politicians get their fingers into some things it doesn't always follow that they will get them right... on the contrary!

"Having said all this I want to say how much I enjoy your column. It's the best sport column written in Malta... even though I'm an avid Italian football supporter!" John Consiglio, e-mail.

"In last Sunday's column about Wayne Rooney, while I agree with what you said about Rooney I disagree with your statement that 'he is the one shining star in what is otherwise a rather mediocre team'.

"I cannot understand how you can refer to Manchester United as mediocre. Football is a team sport and Rooney alone cannot win trophies. Most of his teammates are winners of more than one Premiership, domestic cup, Champions League and World Club Cup.

"At the moment, United are second in the Premiership, and have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals, so mediocre is the last word you should use when referring to United." Mark Galea, e-mail.

I stand by my comments regarding United for one simple fact: take Rooney out of the equation and United would not be where they are. They would not be fighting for the title, and they would not have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals.

They would be a good but not a great team. Rooney's brilliance is simply covering up the fact that the rest of the team is not up to United's usual standards.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com