England hopeful Warnock targets League Cup boost

Aston Villa’s Stephen Warnock plans to use Sunday’s League Cup final against Manchester United to strengthen his chances of taking Wayne Bridge’s place in the England World Cup squad.

Bridge ruled himself out of Fabio Capello’s plans for the finals in South Africa after deciding the fall-out from John Terry’s alleged affair with the Manchester City star’s former girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel made his position untenable.

Bridge’s absence and an injury to Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole could mean a call-up for Warnock for England’s friendly against Egypt at Wembley next Wednesday and the Villa star is keen to catch Capello’s eye against United.

“The manager picks who he thinks is right for the job. All I can do is concentrate on my form with Villa and try and impress him,” Warnock said.

“I thought I was pushing hard anyway but with what has happened, maybe it has opened a door. Ideally it would be great to win the League Cup and get called up for the Egypt game but let’s wait and see.”

Meanwhile, Villa manager Martin O’Neill believes victory at the English national stadium this weekend could be a springboard to success in Europe.

Villa last won the European Cup back in 1982 and O’Neill, who tasted success in Europe’s elite club competition as a player with Nottingham Forest, is hopeful that a victory over United can provide the boost to push his team to qualify for the Champions League.

“This is a fantastic challenge,” O’Neill said. “I am well aware of the history of this football club. Trying to restore it to its days of former glory seems a long way away, but why not try?

“It is nearly 25 years since they won the European Cup but that is the dream.”

If Villa are to defeat Sir Alex Ferguson’s side and win their first trophy for 14 years they will need captain Stiliyan Petrov at full fitness.

The Bulgaria midfielder, 30, missed Wednesday’s FA Cup win over Crystal Palace with a virus but he was confident of recovering in time to feature at Wembley.

Petrov said: “The virus is okay. It is better. I’ve been on antibiotics for the last three or four days and we are eexpecting every day for it to get better and better.

“I’ve done a bit of training. I think it should be okay for Sunday.

“In my last game against Burnley at the weekend, I played with a little fever and then I felt really bad after the game.

“I had a lot of pain in my body and my chest was really tight and on Monday I was really bad so I started the antibiotics straight away.

“But, even if there had been a doubt, I was going to push right to the end because we have worked so hard as a team to get to that final and nobody would want to miss it.

“If I wasn’t fit, the manager could have got someone else to play and I would just have accepted it but I am getting better.”