Football distractions

This is real tight at the top of the English Premier League table. For the top three contenders, only two points separate the leaders from the third-placed. And with only seven games remaining for the 2009/2010 season, who among them have a better run-in to the title?

This Saturday, Manchester United will be playing Bolton, Chelsea will meet Aston Villa, while Arsenal will be up against Birmingham.

But after that, Manchester United's next game will be against Chelsea on 3 Apr. Now, that's a big one which should be the most crucial test between the two teams. If Manchester United win, the pressure will be slightly off them. Then they play Blackburn, Manchester City (another interesting game which is too close to call), Tottenham, Sunderland and finally, Stoke. Mustn't forget that there's also the Champions League games to distract them.

After Chelsea's match with Manchester United, they will still have to face Bolton, Tottenham, Stoke, Liverpool (which is a very important game for both teams for their own reasons) and Wigan. Chelsea are still in the chase for the FA Cup and for my own selfish reason, I hope they will be bothered by it.

And in the meanwhile, Arsenal will face Wolverhampton, Tottenham, Wigan, Manchester City, Blackburn and Fulham. Oh yes, Arsenal are still in the Champions League so let this keep their minds off the Premier League too. Let it distract, distract, distract!

But broadly, it looks like Arsenal may have the easiest run-in among the trio, Nevertheless, anything can happen in football. In fact, there are banana skins everywhere. My team is Manchester United and I hope - I really, really hope - that they'll managed to avoid any slip-up from now until the end of the season.