Fun with math!

Sir Alex still thinks that Man United can catch Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, is basically sticking his fingers in his ears and chanting "I can't hear you! I can't hear you!"

Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely? No. But then again, how likely was it that Chelsea would lose to Fulham and draw with Birmingham?

Here's how things stand, going into the last five games:

Chelsea have 82 points, with games against Bolton, Everton, United, Blackburn and Newcastle. United have 75 points, and face Sunderland, Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Charlton. If they win all of those, they'll finish the season with 90 points, which means Chelsea need just three more wins to clinch the title.

Where it gets really interesting is if Chelsea beat Bolton and Everton -- because then the game against United (at Stamford Bridge, just to add to the fun) is what could decide the season. The worst case scenario, which I don't even want to think about, is that Chelsea win the game, win the league, and I have to watch Mourinho being the smuggest smug that ever smugged. Best case scenario is that United win the game, sending Chelsea into a death spiral where they lose their last two games, including John Terry getting clobbered by Alan Shearer in his final match for Newcastle and crying like a little girl.

The fight for European places isn't so interesting to me; I figure that Liverpool are going to finish third, and Arsenal are going to squeak by Tottenham to grab the fourth Champions League spot -- Arsenal does have an easier run of games coming up, but on the other hand, if they can't beat Portsmouth, who knows. (And is it just coincidence that their sudden drop in form happened when Sol Campbell came back into the first team?). Oh, and Blackburn and Bolton will be fighting it out for the last UEFA Cup place, but I don't really care about either of those teams except when it comes to them taking points from Chelsea.