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The closeness between the top two teams in the Premiership, Manchester United and Chelsea, which has been apparent all season, was summed up for over an hour on Saturday. Both teams were for once playing at the same time (United at Everton, Chelsea at home to Bolton), both were a goal down before recovering, both benefited from an own goal from the other side (Jaaskelainen for Chelsea, Phil Neville for Manchester United … doing his old team a favour), and both were drawing 2-2 at around the 70-minute mark. The difference was United’s will and ability, and they came back to win 4-2 while Chelsea could only hold on to their 2-2 draw. It means that it will need a miracle for Chelsea to win the title now … or, from the point of view of United’s fans … a disaster.

Chelsea are five points behind United with three games to play, but United have a vastly superior goal difference: 56 to 40. United visit local rivals Manchester City and receive West Ham in the last game. Chelsea travel across London to Arsenal and receive Everton in the last game. In between, both sides meet at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, then, need to win all their games, including at home to United, and hope that United lose one of their other games – an unlikely prospect.

Third and fourth spots in the table both earn a Champions League place. Liverpool, in third, lost 1-2 at Portsmouth, while Arsenal beat Fulham 3-1 on Sunday. Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez rested seven players with an eye on Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second-leg against Chelsea – the London club weren’t able to do that, and lost influential centre-back Ricardo Carvalho to injury in the game against Bolton.

Portsmouth are one of five clubs realistically in with a chance of a UEFA Cup place – the others being Bolton, Everton Tottenham and Reading. Bolton’s point at Chelsea will help in the final reckoning … but the fact that their coach Sam Allardyce has resigned will not. It’s a strange time for a coach to quit, with only two games left. Allardyce, who is rumoured to be joining Manchester City, has done great things for the club in his time there, but his resignation and the scandal surrounding him earlier in the season with respect to his alleged involvement in transfer irregularities has cast something of a shadow over the club.

Also apparently involved in transfer irregularities were low-lying West Ham over the signings of the Argentinean players Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano (who has since moved to Liverpool). The club itself admitted the infringement to the authorities and so ‘escaped’ with a fine ... of £5.5 million (over 8 million euros), when it was expected that they might have points deducted, which would have been disastrous for them. The team bounced back from the news, winning 3-0 at fellow strugglers Wigan. Of the clubs fighting for survival, Fulham and Charlton also lost; the last games will no doubt be heart-stoppers for their fans.

Bouncing back to the Premiership will be Sunderland and Birmingham City, after just one season away. Former Manchester United player Roy Keane, in his first job as coach, has performed a minor miracle at Sunderland, which was a club in crisis until he arrived. At the bottom of the Championship (second tier) Leeds United, until recently a force in the Premiership, look certain to be relegated.

In Scotland, Celtic’s shaky end to the season continued with a 1-3 home defeat to Hearts, but the team had already won the title and so were able to celebrate it with their home fans. Rangers look on course to secure second spot, despite only managing a point in a 3-3 draw at Hibs. Third-placed Aberdeen beat Kilmarnock 3-0 at home.

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