If ever a football season needed a twist in its tail, this one does. Yet those seeking a significant change of plot over Easter will surely search in vain.
There are five weeks to go in the Premiership, but by teatime tomorrow Manchester United could be champions again in all but name. The Nationwide League programme will not be over until May 6th, but if Fulham win at Huddersfield tomorrow - or Bolton lose to Birmingham tonight - Craven Cottage will be assured of Premiership football in August.
So far as the main issues of the season are concerned, therefore, it is going to be hard to separate Easter from the epilogue. And for Arsenal and Manchester United any holiday activity will be merely a prologue to more urgent business next week in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The game's fringe theatre looks more interesting. Once more Coventry City are promising to bring a touch of Pearl White to their season's climax: tied to the relegation rails with Nationwide football bearing down on them but hoping to be snatched to safety.
Coventry are cutting it fine, but no more than usual. Three draws and two wins have brought Gordon Strachan's team within striking distance of Middlesbrough, now two points above them in 17th place.
While tomorrow's match at Old Trafford, where they have lost 14 times in 16 Premier League visits, offers Coventry little reason for optimism, Sunderland's visit to Highfield Road on Easter Monday could prove the pivotal moment of their latest leap towards safety.
So much depends on Middlesbrough and whether Terry Venables can prise his team out of neutral, starting at Highbury tomorrow. Since Venables arrived on Teesside his team have broken the habit of losing but have yet to rediscover the art of winning regularly.
Unless Arsenal, who defend a 2-1 lead in Valencia on Tuesday, throttle back to the point of stalling, Boro will not gain much comfort. Nor will the losers (if there are losers) at Upton Park, where West Ham and Derby County are both poised perilously close to the bottom three.
Should Arsenal fail to win and Coventry lose at Old Trafford, the championship will be over bar the counting because of Manchester United's vastly superior goal difference. United would doubtless insist on saving the victory parade until their home game against Manchester City tomorrow week, but in reality the contest ended once Alex Ferguson's side had taken an 11-point lead on New Year's Day.
Like Arsenal, Manchester United's immediate priorities lie in the Champions League, and Ferguson will be anxious to keep legs fresh for Wednesday's game in Munich, where his side need to overturn Bayern's 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
Mentally at least, Leeds can afford to be a little more relaxed about taking a 3-0 lead to Coruna on Tuesday. Nevertheless, David O'Leary has to concentrate on reaching next season's tournament not so much by winning the European Cup but through finishing third in the Premiership.
Today's visit to Anfield, then, is one of the more crucial holiday matches, with Liverpool needing a win to leapfrog above Leeds and Ipswich into third place on goal difference.
This will be Liverpool's fifth match in 12 days, and their fixture jam does not end there. On Monday they face Everton at Goodison, and three days later Barcelona visit Anfield in the second leg of the UEFA Cup semi-finals.
Having made six changes for the 1-1 draw at Ipswich three nights ago, Gerard Houllier will presumably rotate his squad again today, with Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler among those set for recall.
A draw at Anfield would suit Ipswich, who will be looking to take at least four points from their matches at home to Newcastle United tomorrow and away to Middlesbrough on Monday.
This season George Burley set out simply to keep Ipswich in the Premier League. If, instead, he gets them into the Champions League and is not voted manager of the year, then the poll will be about as significant as a mafia raffle.
