After a period in which this year's Premiership title could have gone either way, the week's games at Elland Road and Ewood Park have left Manchester United firmly in the driving seat as we head into the last weekend of what has been another enthralling campaign. Arsenal's visit to Leeds on Tuesday night always looked more likely to have an impact on the destination of the silverware than their rivals' encounter with Blackburn and, sure enough, the fact that Arsene Wenger's side lost while United took a point leaves the London club needing an unlikely stroke of good fortune tomorrow if they are to retain their title.

I felt sorry for the champions the other night for I don't think I've seen a team create more chances at Elland Road this season, but, like Wenger I'm sure, I had a fairly strong feeling, even before the first half of the game was over, that it simply wasn't going to be his side's night.

Now Arsenal face the prospect of winning nothing despite being a very attractive side. Wenger will probably make a couple of changes over the summer but really I don't think there is an awful lot wrong with the group of players that he has at the moment. They have peaked well for him over the past couple of months and, to be honest, I reckon that if he had brought in Nwankwo Kanu a month or so earlier in the season then they'd probably have made sure of the title again by now.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have seen Arsenal losing a game like that but they felt they had to win this game and the upshot was that, as the game moved into its closing stages, they were caught at the back in a way that was very uncharacteristic for them.

Tomorrow, I suspect that they'll win again. On balance, they've been playing better football than Manchester United for the last 10 weeks or so and, in the circumstances, it's hard to see them slipping up against an Aston Villa side that has nothing bar pride to play for.

The problem is, though, that I simply can't see a way in which Tottenham are going to go to Old Trafford for the day's other big game and not get beaten.

A lot has been made over the last few weeks of the role that Spurs were going to play in the title race. The fact that they have traditionally been Arsenal's greatest rivals, not to mention George Graham's long history with the Highbury club, has given the conspiracy theorists plenty to go on as they weighed up the pros and cons of the championship run in.

Personally I don't believe that sort of stuff makes any real difference when it comes to situations like this. You only have to look at the Leeds game the other night when I don't think too many of the supporters in the stands were hoping their team would do Alex Ferguson any favours. Still, Leeds played as if their survival depended on it because it was a big night, a big game and players generally rise to those sort of occasions.

The difficulty for Arsenal, however, is that Spurs simply don't appear to have what it takes to go to United's place and get a result. They certainly didn't come close to having enough to match their neighbours at White Hart Lane a couple of weeks ago and tomorrow should be a considerably sterner test than that.

I'm sure Graham would love his side to have some sort of major impact on the last day. It would be a boost to the pride of the club and help the players' confidence before they break up for the summer. However it won't be easy for them, as Graham well knows his side remains weak at the back and ill-equipped for the sort of siege they will face if United need to score over the closing half hour or so.

Some far better teams - Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Juventus have come to Old Trafford this season and after prodding away at defences like that, it's difficult to see the home side's players being too awestruck by a side who have effectively been thinking about getting away to the sun since winning the Worthington Cup.

In any case, I think United have too many scoring options to run into serious difficulty. With the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes behind a very good strike-force, it's very difficult to keep them at bay for the whole 90 minutes. Even without Roy Keane and, possibly, Jaap Stam, there should be far too much strength in the United side for the visitors.

The fact that a win would keep United's hopes of the treble alive will act as an incentive for their players too, but, when it boils down to it, most will simply be looking at this as another match to be won.

When I was at Liverpool back in 1984, we won a treble that included the League Cup, championship and European Cup. They were good times, but by the end of it you were in a sort of trance. No matter how big the game, somewhere in the back of your mind, it was just another being ticked off the list of those to be got out of the way before the summer holidays. And, in reality, it was a month or so into the break before the real sense of what we had achieved began to sink in.

Whatever happens, I don't think the outcome of the championship race will seriously affect United's chances in the other competitions, but, win or lose, the players will quickly have to turn their attention to their forthcoming FA and European finals. The upshot is that, if Arsenal do pinch it, then the celebrations might be a little bit more enthusiastic than if the title goes back to Old Trafford.

At the other end there will some celebrating too, at either Southampton or Charlton, with the more likely of the two grounds to be hosting a party appearing, once again, to be the Dell.

It's been a hard year for Charlton who, like Barnsley last year, have won more friends than games during their first year in the Premiership. Perhaps they actually did a little too well on the road early on for some of their results in the first half of the season may actually have had the effect of papering over the cracks, while Southampton, who had been through all this before, probably had a clearer of idea of what they were embroiled in.

The last day has a habit of producing at least one great story so maybe if United do hold on, Charlton may too, however, like Arsenal, they start the day as underdogs.

And finally a word about Blackburn. After spending so much money over the years, there were plenty of people who were glad to see them relegated the other night. Personally, I can't help feeling for Jack Walker. At the end of the day the man is simply a fan who has, as far as I can make out, looked for nothing more than any other fan out of the club, but who has, unlike any others I can think of, put the guts of £100 million in.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)