The English Premier League title is on the line this weekend, as Liverpool aim to take the final step towards glory.
Denied the ability to share the special moment with their fans when they last lifted the trophy amid the gloom of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, it’s an Anfield opportunity for coach Arne Slot to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Jurgen Klopp.
And at the first opportunity, too.
The Reds are heavy favourites to finish the job on a spring Sunday afternoon on Merseyside, with miserable Tottenham a visiting side desperate for the curtain to come down on a shambolic domestic campaign.
Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou has precisely none of opposite number Slot’s capital in the bank, with his floundering side in serious danger of finishing an unthinkable fourth from bottom of the EPL come the end of next month.
Sunday’s other game sees Manchester United – the other candidate for underachiever of the season – make the trip to Bournemouth.
The Red Devils do so looking to halt yet another Premier League run of four games without victory, while the home side at the Vitality Stadium look to have turned their own corner with three matches unbeaten.
Five Saturday fixtures complete the EPL programme this weekend, with the FA Cup semi-finals also taking place at Wembley Stadium.
That means the respective European qualification bids of Manchester City, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest take a backseat, as they bid for a spot in the showpiece final alongside Crystal Palace.
And that opens the door for their rivals to crank up the continental pressure.
Chelsea kick off the EPL weekend on Saturday lunchtime when they welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge.
The sixth-placed Blues can put vital breathing space between themselves and the Villans in seventh if they can snaffle all three points in west London.
David Moyes’ Toffees could be forgiven for drifting towards their summer holidays – safe from relegation danger and unlikely to finish much higher than their current 13th place in the table.
Newcastle have a two-point buffer above Enzo Maresca’s chasers and also have a home assignment, with doomed Ipswich standing on the trapdoor at St James’ Park.
The Tractor Boys are returning to the Championship whatever happens on Saturday and they face a sharpened Toon Army, who tasted rare defeat last time out and this week welcomed boss Eddie Howe back to work following his worrying spell in hospital with a bout of pneumonia.
Brighton also have a shot at returning to Uefa competition, despite their miserable run of recent form.
They tackle former boss Graham Potter and his iffy West Ham at the Amex Stadium, knowing a win could take them as high as eighth and in pole position to finish best-of-the-rest-of-the-rest.
Fulham will have a say in that, however, as they go to rock bottom Southampton boasting a slender goal difference advantage over the Seagulls.
They have lost two on the bounce and three of their last four, though, albeit heading to St Mary’s Stadium to play a team that has scrounged together a measly 11 points all season.
Interim boss Simon Rusk has only one task with the Saints: avoid joining Derby on the lowest ever Premier League points tally.
Leicester have also plummeted straight back to the second tier and have endured every bit as horrible a time as Southampton since the turn of the year.
As 2016 EPL champion and Foxes club legend Jamie Vardy fired the starting pistol on an East Midlands exodus in the aftermath of their fate being sealed this week, they can only look on at this weekend’s opponents and wonder what might have been.
Wolves joined the promoted side in making a critical mid-season managerial change as they also headed rapidly in the wrong direction.
But while Ruud van Nistelrooy has somehow seen Leicester become even worse under his charge, the Black Country side appear truly revitalised since the appointment of Vitor Pereira.
While they are casting a glance at the sunlit uplands of midtable, a welcome to Wrexham in the second tier would likely greet Van Nistelrooy next season in the unlikely event he survived the axe.
Fixtures and results
Latest table
All latest EPL Predictions
Chelsea v Everton
| Result prediction | Chelsea to win |
| Over/Under prediction | under 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | draw / Chelsea to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | n/a |
Brighton & Hove Albion v West Ham United
| Result prediction | Brighton & Hove Albion to win |
| Over/Under prediction | under 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | Brighton & Hove Albion / Brighton & Hove Albion to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | n/a |
Newcastle United v Ipswich Town
| Result prediction | Newcastle United to win |
| Over/Under prediction | over 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | Newcastle United / Newcastle United to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | J. Murphy(Newcastle United) H. Barnes(Newcastle United) |
Southampton v Fulham
| Result prediction | draw |
| Over/Under prediction | under 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | Fulham / draw |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | Rodrigo Muniz(Fulham) |
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City
| Result prediction | Wolverhampton Wanderers to win |
| Over/Under prediction | under 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | Wolverhampton Wanderers / Wolverhampton Wanderers to win |
| Team to Score prediction | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | J. Strand Larsen(Wolverhampton Wanderers) |
AFC Bournemouth v Manchester United
| Result prediction | AFC Bournemouth to win |
| Over/Under prediction | under 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | draw / AFC Bournemouth to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | Evanilson(AFC Bournemouth) |
Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur
| Result prediction | Liverpool to win |
| Over/Under prediction | over 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | draw / Liverpool to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | n/a |