Three teams battling for the title, four vying for the final Champions League place and five, realistically, battling to avoid being relegated with Portsmouth. That, in essence, is what the English Premier League has boiled down to, even with six weeks of the season remaining.
If we accept that those 12 teams are the ones with everything still to play for, it is interesting that only four of them are in opposition this weekend, leaving the others to face the eight teams with much less at stake. It is too early to talk of teams having nothing to play for, but it is clear that sides such as Blackburn, who have dragged themselves clear of relegation, and Europa League contenders Fulham will achieve nothing more nor less than mid-table security.
Manchester United, the leaders, are the title contenders who will be kept waiting tonight as rivals Arsenal and Chelsea go into battle first. Arsenal visit Birmingham City, which will bring back uncomfortable memories of their last match at St Andrews, when Eduardo suffered his horrific injury and their 2007-08 title challenge started to unravel.
Those memories were revived on Arsenal's most recent trip to the West Midlands, when Aaron Ramsey suffered a devastating double leg fracture at Stoke, and Arsene Wenger's dark mood in this region was also evident at Aston Villa in January, when he accused the hosts of long-ball soccer after a goalless draw. It is vital that Wenger travels back to London in a happier mood tonight, but that is far from certain, with Birmingham having lost only two of their 15 home games and held United and Chelsea to draws. The key for Arsenal is to find a way to breach the home defence, as Birmingham remain the lowest scorers in the top half of the table, at only slightly better than one goal per game, and almost certainly will come off second-best in an open contest.
Arsenal's chances at St Andrews, and for the rest of the title run-in, are improved by having Cesc Fabregas to pull the strings in midfield, but their away win rate - just over 50 per cent in all away games and 43 per cent on visits to top-half teams - does not inspire great confidence in them at odds-on. The likelihood is that they will score and win, but a draw would not be a surprise, and nor would more complaining from Wenger.
United look much more solid for their visit to Bolton and they rate the banker among the title challengers. Under Owen Coyle, Bolton have gained four vital wins against teams near the bottom of the table, but they haven't scored in six games under Coyle against teams in the top half, and that indicates they will struggle against United.