Will Fulham pulled off the great escape and survive the drop? They are definitely in the driving seat, after beating Birmingham City 2-0. Fulham wanted the win much more than Birmingham City and ran out deserved winners. The win moves them out of the bottom three and it looks like Roy Hodson has turned their fortunes around.
WIth Fulham's destiny is in their own hands, Birmingham City need to win against Blackburn Rovers and hope that both Fulham and Reading do not win. It's going to be a tall task as Blackburn Rovers are still chasing a UEFA place.
Elsewhere Reading have dropped into the bottom three and look almost certain to be relegated. After not scoring for the last six games they face bottom club Derby at the best possible time when on a goal drought. If they can't break the duck against Derby then the Championship beckons and with it the millions of pounds in lost revenue that Premier League status guarantees.
I've changed my predictions and I think that Reading and Birmingham City along with Derby will be relegated at the end of the season.
Fulham pulled off one of the comebacks of the season against Manchester City. Fulham looked down and out trailing 2-0 at half-time, but they came out fighting to win 3-2. Roy Hodgson must have given his player the hair dryer treatment as they looked a different team after the break, but is it too little too late?
That result now sets up a mammoth game for Fulham against Birmingham City at Craven Cottage next week, which is truly a six pointer. Birmingham City's chances of surviving the drop are quickly fading after they only managed a point against Liverpool drawing 2-2. Who will hold their nerve and win? The winner of this game really gives themselves a good chance of survival.
Reading and Bolton must be hoping that the game ends a draw, I still predict that the current bottom three teams (Birmingham City, Fulham and Derby) will be in the Championship next season.
At 12:45 on Saturday (26/04/2008) all eyes will be on Chelsea as they kickoff the most important game of the FA Premier League against Manchester United. This is a must win for Chelsea and they might have to do it without Frank Lampard, who is currently grieving after the death of his mother.
Can Chelsea stop Manchester United from retaining the title? Personally I don't think so, I reckon the game is over hyped and I predict the final result will be a 1-1 draw.
However, I've been wrong on many occasions and it will probably be a blinding game with Chelsea overpowering Manchester United and winning 3-1. This would be the best result for all us neutral fans, who want the title to go right down to the wire.
Elsewhere Birmingham City have got to dig deep and beat Liverpool to have a chance of surviving the drop. Liverpool will probably field a weakened team, as they still have one eye of the Champions League Semi-Final, this wont help the other teams that are battling against relegation such as Bolton and Fulham. Liverpool will still have a lot of class on the pitch and I believe they will still be too strong for Birmingham City and I predict the score will be 3-1 to Liverpool.
The current bottom three looked doomed and I can't see Fulham or Birmingham City winning enough games to survive the drop, which is a shame, unfortunately three teams have to be relegated at the end of the season. Hopefully both of these teams will be strong enough to bounce straight back into the FA Premier League.