On your marks, get set, go... the race is on for the Premier League finish line - Martin Lipton's big lunchtime read

By Ian Cruise in Laptop with Martin Lipton

Published 11:19 09/02/10

• 

The run-in begins now, the fight to the finish, all or nothing at both ends.

And while nobody would try to claim this has been a vintage Premier League season, the last third of the campaign could yet make it one of the most exciting ever - at both ends of the table.

The weekend set of fixtures will not, of course, be decisive - how could they be in the second week of February?

But up and down the country, from Fratton Park to Eastlands, the Emirates to Villa Park and Goodison, this is the opportunity for crucial momentum shifts at both ends of the table.

For Portsmouth, tonight's game with Sunderland arguably represents the defining moment of their season.

In his heart of hearts, Avram Grant had given up Saturday's trip to Old Trafford as a bad job even before his half-strength team contributed to their own downfall in such spectacular style.

For Grant, this evening's game was the fixture that mattered - although many Pompey fans may be more concerned with the one with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs due at the High Court tomorrow - and the game that would let him know if he has a chance of steering Portsmouth back from the brink.

Win, for the first game in seven in the league, and Portsmouth will be back within three points of the pack, within four of the most unlikely of survival acts, while simultaneously intensifying free-falling Sunderland's crisis fears.

Lose - or even, in all probability, draw - and it will look all over, fuelling the possibility of the financial nightmare exploding and destroying the club completely. No big deal, then!

It is so tight at the bottom - just four points currently separating Sunderland, in 13th, from Wolves who stand one off the bottom - that every result can transform the picture.

How Burnley, at Fulham, would love to add to the meagre, solitary point they have harvested on their travels, while Wigan fans will start to breathe slightly more easily if they can beat Stoke.

Yet even for Manchester City manager Roberto Manicini, who has already lost more matches than predecessor Mark Hughes, the scrutiny is really on against Bolton.

A thumping win this evening and City could, for 24 hours at least, leapfrog both Spurs and Liverpool into fourth. Anything less and the spectre of Jose Mourinho will grow yet bigger.

And it gets even more taut and intriguing tomorrow with the pick of the crop, probably, at Arsenal.

After those back to back defeats at the hands of United and Chelsea, surely killing off any remaining title hopes, Liverpool's visit could alter the dynamics of the rest of the season.

Rafa Benitez will know that a victory would not only make his players feel they are back on track but also see them move within two points of Wenger's Gunners.

Where Arsenal had looked certain to finish third, at worst, it would all be different and open up what might be a five-way battle, also involving Spurs, City and Aston Villa, for third AND fourth.

That would really make it interesting, although it requires Tottenham to rediscover their winning ways after too many recent draws and avenge their shock defeat at the hands of Wolves earlier this term.

All of that, before we even come to the top two.

John Terry, fitness permitting, will know he will be entering a Scouse bearpit at Everton, where he has never been popular.

Recent Chelsea managers have found it hard to keep their composure at Goodison, with Grant conducting his infamous "yes/no" press conference two seasons ago and Luis Felipe Scolari refusing to speak after Terry was sent off by Phil Dowd last term.

So far Carlo Ancelotti has been impervious to such stresses and strains but this will be his first taste of the intensity of the Everton supporters, a trial he will realise, pretty swiftly, is a big one.

Ancelotti already knows the heat is on even though Chelsea responded superbly to United's win over Portsmouth against Arsenal.

The Italian does not need to be told that even a draw would see his Blues ceding top spot to Sir Alex Ferguson's side if they can pick up their customary win at Villa Park - a ground where they have not lost in 13 visits in all competitions, winning 11, since 1999.  

In many ways, this is where it starts to matter, all the rest just the preamble, the jockeying for position.

From here on, every game has extra resonance, extra significance, extra pressure.

It is what football is supposed to be about. And if it does go down to the wire, for the title, for the Champions League slots, for the fight to stay part of the elite, we really will end up with a season to remember.

Fancy winning £3,000 for FREE this month? Play Mirror Football Streak for your chance to win cash prizes! Start predicting now!