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The Premier League is set for one of its most thrilling final days in the last few years on Sunday as five teams battle for survival.
West Ham United are the only team to have relegation confirmed so far after their defeat last weekend and they will be joined in the Championship by two of Wigan, Blackpool, Birmingham and Wolves and Blackburn.
With plenty of twists and turns likely to come, it is set to be an enthralling day of football and an extremely tense one for fans of the teams involved.
The only other unresolved issue in the Premier League is the tussle for 5th place between Liverpool and Tottenham too, so all eyes are going to be on this fascinating quest for Premier League survival.
Going into the day, Wolves and Blackburn are the two teams that have the luxury of having their fate in their own hands. They meet at Molinuex safe in the knowledge that whoever secures three points will be safe. It is a massive, massive game.
Sitting just above the relegation zone as things stand, Birmingham travel to Tottenham with a very close eye on Blackpool’s match at Old Trafford and Wigan’s trip to the Britannia Stadium.
For Blackpool, Birmingham and Wigan there is massive focus on keeping things tight. Even if they are behind on the day, they cannot afford to give up as it could all come down to goal difference.
Basically, there are a lot of different results possible and you would expect the teams occupying the final two relegation places to change frequently throughout the afternoon.
It is very difficult to say who are the favourites to go down, but you would expect Wolves to be in with the best chance of survival given that they are in charge of their own destiny and on home soil.
The other four teams are all away from home, with Blackpool having the toughest challenge of all. Manchester United may well be in party mood, but you wouldn’t expect Ian Holloway’s men to go there and win.
The same applies to Birmingham who travel to White Hart Lane. Spurs still have a Europa League place to play for and will field their strongest team. Again, a betting man would predict defeat for the visitors.
With this in mind, if it ends up being a shoot-out between Blackpool and Birmingham in the closing stages, it could come down to how many they lose by.
Wigan have a better chance of victory as they travel to FA Cup finalists Stoke City. Tony Pulis’ men looked shattered against Manchester City on Tuesday and it is a decent time to play them. Their season is over.
So, with all of this in mind, let’s make some predictions. Wolves will beat Blackburn to end on 43 points, Wigan will pick up a point at Stoke to end on 40 points and both Birmingham and Blackpool will lose their games meaning that they are the two teams relegated. Blackburn will survive on goal difference.
The beauty of all of this though, for the neutral anyway, is that anything could happen. It is now or never.
