A Premier League photo finish

The only way the Premier League won't go the distance is if Manchester United beat West Ham on Saturday and Chelsea then lose at Newcastle on Monday. Even then it won't be officially settled, mathematically. Arsenal could still be involved in the shake-up if they win, and the other two slip up, this weekend.

At the other end, we're guaranteed a last day resolution of at least one, and possibly two, of the relegation places.

There could be as many as six teams involved, evoking memories of that incredible day in 2005 when four different teams occupied the third bottom place at different times on the final afternoon. In the end Crystal Palace were the unlucky losers, entering the bottom four by conceding at Charlton with a few minutes to go.

It was a particularly grim afternoon for my co-editor Mark Demuth who, as a Palace fan, had to show extreme professionalism in masterminding the inordinately complicated four-way edit, with "as it stands" league tables, which told the story of his team's eventual demise. The only consolation was that Adrian Chiles wasn't presenting that Sunday, as he was at the Hawthorns to watch his side's great escape, rather than in Television Centre driving himself - and everyone else - nuts!

We're bracing ourselves for the possibility of two multi-game edits - one at the top, one at the bottom - a week on Sunday. It's even been suggested that a similar topsy-turvy tale may accompany the race between Everton, Villa and possibly Pompey for that Uefa Cup place, but I think three intercut edits may be one too many in the same show! As it is, we could well have the unprecedented scenario where Chelsea v Bolton, and possibly even Wigan v Manchester United, figure in the story at the top and bottom of the table, so have potentially to be reprised in both edits.

Anyway, that's a headache for another week. Last Saturday, Gary Lineker introduced our last game in MOTD, West Ham v Newcastle, like this: "At this stage of the season if you're nestled in mid-table, then the chances are you are going to be on very late on Match of the Day". It was the only game of the weekend which had nothing resting on it, so was last in the programme. I don't generally like to predict running orders, but it's a fair bet that Blackburn v Derby will be last this week for the same reason!

Given where they were a little while ago, I think most Newcastle fans would happily take a low-profile mid-table finish, and while it seems some at West Ham aren't thrilled with 10th place, I think they'd rather be last in the MOTD running order, if being first in the programme meant they were in the sort of dogfight they were in this time last year! In fact, West Ham's game at Old Trafford will probably lead the programme this Saturday as it did on the last day of last season, only this time with the focus very much on the home team.

And before I'm dragged into the old 'big four' argument, Fulham v Birmingham looks like the likely second game in the running order, followed by the games at Reading and Bolton.

On the final Sunday, if everything goes as expected this weekend, two of the 'big four' may well feature at the very end of the show. Spurs v Liverpool will definitely have nothing riding on it, and Sunderland v Arsenal may well have. United and Chelsea may well feature at the other end of the running order but, as in their European adventures, it will be because they're the last two standing!