Football’s fat lady may not have started singing yet but she’s cleared her throat, licked her lips and taken a very deep breath.

Like every neutral I was looking forward to spending this afternoon glued to one of those ridiculously exciting last days of the season that football throws up occasionally.

After the drama of the past few months, you just felt the Premier League title race and relegation scrap would go all the way to the bitter end.

Sadly it was not to be.

A midweek combination of Liverpool snatching a draw from the jaws of what should have been a comprehensive victory against Crystal Palace, and Manchester City brushing aside Aston Villa means the title is all but sown up.

Unless City somehow contrive to lose at home to West Ham United – and that is as likely as Jose Mourinho quitting Chelsea to become a full-time referee – they will be crowned champions by six o’clock this evening.

In truth, if you take their overall performances over the course of the season then it is probably a fair outcome. As much as I don’t like City, you have to admire their consistency and the fact that they have scored more than 100 goals on their march to the top.

Liverpool, on the other hand, will have to live with the fact that they threw away their best chance of a title in a quarter of a century. People will point to the 3-3 draw with Palace as a key moment, but the reality is ‘that’ slip by Steven Gerrard was the turning point in this title race.

It’s incredibly unfortunate and massively ironic that the error which scuppered their bid for the title should come from the man who had been the driving force behind the challenge in the first place.

But that’s the cruel world of football I guess.

I see no reason, however, why Liverpool shouldn’t be able to build on their success next season. Big-name players will be encouraged to move to Liverpool both by their performances over the past nine months as well as the fact they are now back in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, at the bottom, only a mathematical miracle involving a 17-goal swing, divine intervention and possibly a time machine, can stop Norwich City following Cardiff and Fulham down to the Championship.

A sad day for fans of those teams, of course, but you have wonder if it is just coincidence that all three relegated clubs fired their managers at crucial stages of the season?

That’s a question we can all ponder as we endure our enforced three-month break from domestic football.

Oh boy, it sounds like a long time when you put it that way…

Expect the expected

England manager Roy Hodgson names his squad for this summer’s World Cup tomorrow but don’t hold your breath for any exciting or unexpected inclusions.

In the build-up to the announcement, Hodgson admitted that he has known his squad for a while and all but ruled out anyone staking a late claim for a seat on the plane to Brazil.

While I can understand his loyalty to the players that secured England’s place in the finals, I would much preferred him to have kept an open mind about taking form players to the tournament.

Connor Wickham, for example, will almost definitely not be included in the provisional squad of 30 despite hitting a rich vein of form and firing Sunderland to Premier League safety.

I would rather see Wickham included in the squad than Danny Welbeck, who ranges between struggling for form and struggling to actually prove he is a footballer. It would be brave, but it could pay off quite dramatically.

And what about young Everton defender John Stones? If you’re not going to win the World Cup this time then at least take players who might be able to do so in the future.

But Hodgson doesn’t work that way, it seems, so all we can really expect is 30 players picked from those who have turned out for England over the past couple of years.

He does have one or two genuine selection dilemmas to deal with, however. Like at left back, where it is a fight between Ashley Cole and Luke Shaw to be Leighton Baines’s understudy. But again, this being Hodgson I think he will probably go with Cole on the basis of age and experience.

‘That’ slip by Steven Gerrard was the turning point in this title race

There is one young player, however, who simply, absolutely and categorically has to be included in the squad – Ross Barkley. In fact, not only should he be included in the squad, he should be in the starting line-up.

I’ve watched Barkley’s development over the course of the season and he truly is a phenomenon. Not since Paul Gascoigne in his prime have England had a midfielder of such talent and vision, a player capable of mazy runs, spectacular goals and regular assists.

As long as Hodgson takes Barkley and plays him in Brazil I will forgive him for leaving out others I feel should be going. On the other hand, if he overlooks Barkley in favour of someone like James Milner, then the FA should get straight on the phone to Harry Redknapp.

The changing of the Wilsons

In James Wilson it looks like Manchester United may have unearthed a little gem.

The 18-year-old striker scored twice on his first team debut on Tuesday and looks like a kid who could go all the way to the very top.

From what we have seen so far it’s fair to say Wilson doesn’t have as much natural flair as Wayne Rooney or Robin Van Persie, but he has one attribute that is almost more valuable – a natural ability to score goals.

Both his strikes displayed brilliant predatory instincts, the ability to make sure he was in the right place at the right time to pounce. Players like Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright, Andy Cole and Gary Lineker had amazing careers based almost entirely on that single talent.

It’s early days and there is no point in getting carried away after just one match. As we have seen many times with many players at many clubs, brilliant debuts don’t necessarily mean brilliant careers lie ahead.

However, this Wilson looks like he could be a bit special, which makes it all the more fitting that he should have made his United debut on the night when Ryan Wilson (let’s not forget that was his name before he changed it to Giggs) probably made his final appearance for the club…

Your say

“Big well done to Chesterfield who are back up to the third tier of English league football. They didn’t sweep all before them (although they threatened to, with 22 points from the first 24 available), but all’s well that ends well, Chesterfield are champions, done and dusted.

“As for this Giggs business, I can only say ‘You’re nuts’, on two counts: Giggsy has no idea of management, no experience whatsoever. He needs to start hacking at the coal-face somewhere like at Chesterfield, get his hands dirty, set up a team, blood new talent, prune has-beens, balance a budget and not the least, get results before he can even dream of being offered a job with a top club.

“He may then, possibly, be good enough for Man United. Your other in(s)anity is to call Sir Alex Ferguson “the greatest manager of all time”. In the words of John McEnroe, you cannot be serious!

“Ever since the advent of real money in the English Premier League about 10 years ago, United have won what, exactly? The league every other year – that’s five times – no FA Cups and one Champions League. Compare that to the first 10 years of the EPL when United won it seven times, together with three FA Cups and the CL.

“And let’s be honest, both CLs were by direct divine intervention. SAF has spent the last 10 years in decline, with various humiliations peppering the general level of under-achievement, including Michael Mifsud running rings round us, finishing bottom in CL qualifying group, various FA Cup debacles and being hit for six at home…” Chris Ripard, e-mail.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade