Chelsea: Wigan (H), City (A), WBA (H), Fulham (A), WHU (H), Southampton (A), Sunderland (H), Spurs (H), Liverpool (A), Swansea (H), United (A), Villa (A), Everton (H).

Spurs: NU (H), WHU (A), Arsenal (H), Liverpool (A), Fulham (H), Swansea (A), Everton (H), Chelsea (A), City (H), Wigan (A), Southampton (H), Stoke (A), Sunderland (H)

Arsenal: Sunderland (A), Villa (H), Spurs (A), Everton (H), Swansea (A), Reading (H), WBA (A), Norwich (H), Fulham (A), United (H), QPR (A), Wigan (H), NU (A)

Everton: United (A), Norwich (A), Reading (H), Arsenal (A), City (H), Stoke (H), Spurs (A), QPR (H), Sunderland (A), Fulham (H), Liverpool (A), WHU (H), Chelsea (A)

In bold are the tough fixtures where points could possibly be dropped and in italics are the relatively easier fixtures where any side with top-four aspirations should really be picking up the full three points.

At a cursory glance it appeared to me that of all the teams we have the hardest games left. Upon a closer look I was right since we have seven bold ones compared with six for Spurs, five for Arsenal, and six for Everton. Arsenal on the other hand have it the easiest as far as the tough games are concerned.

What about games where these sides should be expected to pick up three points? We've got five of them, Spurs have four, Arsenal seven and Everton five. Once again the rest of the fixtures are enviably straightforward for Le Arse while consolation for us here is that have an extra three guaranteed points over Spurs. Also, things are made simpler for Arsenal (and Everton) since they don't have to worry about fixture congestion as they won't be playing in Europe while competing in the league as well, assuming Bayern send Arsenal packing in the Round of 16, which we can safely bet they will.

Conclusion? We've really got to straighten our act (a challenge with FSW at the helm) because CL qualification is once again in grave danger, only this time we won't have a Drogba-propelled Champions League miracle to save us. Oh and I forgot to add that we have two away games at Old Trafford and the Etihad left!! I wasn't so skeptical about all this until I really perused the fixture lists and now I'm full of apprehension to say the least. Anxiety, anxiety! Despite being four points ahead of Everton and five in front of Arsenal, our position is more precarious than it seems. The game at the Bridge against Spurs is a must-win and could prove to be decisive in this race.

Bright side: we have the best goal difference by some margin if it comes down to that.