This then is the state of play going into the last round of the season:
44 - Sunderland (safe)
40 - Blackburn Rovers (playing Wolves)
40 - Wolverhampton Wanderers (playing Blackburn)
39 - Birmingham City (playing Spurs)
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39 - Blackpool (playing Man Utd)
39 - Wigan Athletic (playing Stoke)
33 - West Ham Utd (gone)
If either Blackburn or Wolves win their match against each other, then they're safe, so you can expect this encounter to be spiteful. If in the event that they draw with each other, they'd both go to 41 points and it is technically possible that if Birmingham, Blackpool and Wigan all win, then those three clubs would end on 42 and they'd both be relegated.
For both Blackburn and Wolverhampton, a win guarantees survival.
Because Birmingham, Blackpool and Wigan are all on 39 points, then even a win might not ensure survival because if all three win and there isn't a draw in the Blackburn-Wolves game, then one of them would be relegated.
It would come down to goal difference if they ended up on the same number of points, so you'd expect that they'd all want to go out and smash as many goals as they possibly could. Even in the event that they somehow all miraculously ended up equal on goal difference, then Blackpool would end with 11 wins as opposed to 9 for both Birmingham and Wigan. As for what happens beyond that, I simply do not know.
Birmingham will be playing Tottenham away at White Hart but Tottenham themselves will be pushing to play as hard as they possibly can because if they win, they'll be guaranteed a spot in next season's Europa League.
Wigan will be travelling to the Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent to play Stoke City but Stoke who have already qualified for the Europa League because they made through to the FA Cup Final (and Manchester City were already qualified for the Champions League), don't really need to worry about the match at all and so this could very well be the easiest of the matches of those in trouble.
Blackpool are faced with the daunting task of facing newly crowned champions Manchester United at Old Trafford. I think that it's fair to say that if Blackpool win against Man United, then they've earned their right to stay in the top flight.
Bizarrely because England has earned an extra spot in the Europa League under the "Fair Play" regulations, it means that Blackpool could be playing in Europe because of their on-field discipline... if only that could be said of the manager Ian Holloway. Though to be fair Blackpool has been on the end of the most decisions brought before the "Dubious Goals Committee" of the FA, so perhaps Olly does have reason to flip his lid every 25 seconds... or maybe not.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/blackpool/8517677/Ian-Holloways-antics-could-rob-Blackpool-of-Europa-League-spot.html
Meanwhile at West Ham...
The bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled,
Red velvet lines the black box,
Bela Lugosi's deeeead... Bela Lugosi's dead (I'll 'ave 'is chips then) Bela Lugosi's deeeead!
Mind you, I do think that the way former West Ham manager Avram Grant was sacked was rather a bit callous. He hadn't even left the players' tunnel and was forced to front a media scrum. They were on that like a pack of wild dogs on a three legged cat!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/15/avram-grant-sacked-west-ham-united-manager
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