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UPS AND DOWNS

By Monday morning, the shape of next season’s Premier League will be clearer. Saturday lunchtime stages the final round of the actual best league in the world, the Championship. One of Ipswich, Millwall and Middlesbrough will join Frank Lampard’s Coventry in being a top-division club by 3pm, Rochdale-esque pitch invasions permitting, as automatic promotion is boxed off. There’s also a race for sixth, another triple-header, where plucky, Disney/tech bro/Hollywood-backed Wrexham kick off a point ahead of Hull and Derby in the chase for the playoffs. Will Ryan and Rob be there? Boro are the opposition, so will Chubby Brown and Jeff Winter be there?

Drama awaits over 90 minutes of sheer hell for fans, probably requiring more than an isotonic drink to wash down. Though that’s not the end of it. Once the Championship regular season bids farewell, another weekend of worry awaits for two of football’s grandest drama-magnets. West Ham visit Brentford, who have not won since 28 February but are nevertheless two points off what may be a Champions League spot – sixth – in a meeting of well-run club versus club run on the whims of a billionaire. Should the Hammers get a point – Brentford have drawn five from the last six – that would open a three-point gap on Tottenham. All eyes then on Sunday night at Villa Park, kicking off in the 7pm Heartbeat slot, as a result of Aston Villa’s Bigger Vase commitments. The hope for Tottenham is Villa replicate a disappointing display at Nottingham Forest that had Unai Emery going full Mr Hennetty in the Bureau after some ropey VAR-ing.

Spurs are formerly well-run turned case study into how not to run a club, rivalling legendary Manchester trendy nightspot the Hacienda, with a similar casualty list. Xavi Simons had intermittently offered hope he had the talent to haul Tottenham from the abyss, only to join the bed-blocked queue for an Enfield treatment room after ACL-knack. Not that latest gaffer Roberto De Zerbi is shedding tears about it. “It’s a tough moment, but losers cry,” he roared. De Zerbi is so keen for positive vibes that James Maddison has been on the bench the last two games when, following nine months of ACL recovery. Considering the risks to his long-term career, the chances of him performing his bullseye darting mimes in celebration are low, though desperation has become the order of the day.

If London-centric attention is drawn to those two clubs, a win for both, not impossible despite themselves, opens up a relegation battle where the magic 40-points total may not be enough. On 39, Forest are not out of trouble. Neither are Leeds on 40 nor Newcastle, on 42. Nobody’s breathing easy. Not least under-pressure Eddie Howe, who gave a presentation to Newcastle’s chiefs at a golfing hotel this week and emerged “under no illusion that … we need a win” against Brighton. Victories for the Hammers and Spurs are very much what the Premier League needs to lift it up towards the Championship’s drama levels.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

Join Rob Smyth from 8pm (BST) for red-hot Premier League updates on Leeds 0-0 Burnley.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We will work together, president [Jibril] Rajoub, vice-president [Basim Sheikh] Suliman. Let’s work together to give hope to the children. These are complex matters” – Gianni Infantino there, fresh off confirming his intention to stand for re-election as Fifa overlord for a third full term next year, with an attempt to orchestrate a handshake between the Palestinian and Israeli delegates at the governing body’s congress in Vancouver. It didn’t go well.

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FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

Re: Scott Parker’s Burnley exit (yesterday’s Football Daily). A manager who has masterminded three promotions and two relegations clearly knows what practice makes” – Rob Crouch.

Just wanted to say thanks for the Wilco reference in the last line (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition). In the middle of a very busy work day, it really was a shot in the arm” – David Kramer (and others).

Regarding yesterday’s last line, there’s plenty of choice descriptions from that Wilco song for the end of the relationship between Burnley and Scott Parker, but the clear one is this: what Burnley once were isn’t what they wanna be any more. To be fair, Parker could be forgiven for thinking ‘oh, you’ve changed’ upon receiving the news, but the club could have told him they needed a shot in the arm and cut him loose six months ago” – Colin Durant.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Colin Durant, who gets a copy of Classic Football Shirts, courtesy of Penguin. It’s out on Thursday and you can order a copy here if you’re not successful. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here. 

TUNE IN FOR EVEN MORE DRAMA

Rochdale and York’s promotion finale from last weekend will be hard to beat, but the final-day scrap for survival at the foot of League Two might get somewhere close. Bottom club Barrow’s relegation to the National League looks done and dusted, bar a mathematical miracle, but above them Crawley and Harrogate are locked on 39 points, with Newport and Tranmere a point better off. For the fans of all four clubs, an unbearably tense final day awaits, as Crawley host Salford – who have their own promotion hopes on the line – Harrogate welcome Barnet, while Tranmere are at home to Grimsby and Newport go to Barrow. The permutations are almost endless but, suffice to say, Newport’s and Tranmere’s fate is in their own hands; if they win, they remain in the Football League. Crawley’s superior goal difference to Harrogate’s means the Yorkshire side may have to rely on a rival dropping points. Let the fingernail chewing commence!

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

A fresh and funky Unai Emery has demanded an explanation from VAR after a hefty Elliot Anderson tackle during Aston Villa’s 1-0 Bigger Vase semi-final first leg defeat at Forest went unpunished. “It is a huge mistake, a huge mistake, because Ollie Watkins was close to breaking his ankle,” fumed the Villa boss.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have one foot in Tin Pot final after Daichi Kamada inspired them to a 3-1 first leg win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Krakow.

After confirming he will stand for for re-election for a third full term at next year’s congress, Gianni Infantino then repeated his belief that Iran will take part in this summer’s Geopolitics World Cup.

Beth England has tearfully confirmed she is to leave Tottenham in a video message to fans. “In moments where I questioned myself, you never did,” she sobbed.

And Scotland fans have found a novel way around extortionate travel prices at the GWC, hiring local school buses at $38 each to ferry them between matches. Better than paying $80 for the train.

STILL WANT MORE?

Three teams are vying for a couple of promotion spots from the WSL2 on Saturday, with the top two, Charlton and Birmingham, facing each other and Crystal Palace waiting to pounce. Tom Garry goes through the permutations.

“You just have to laugh or you’d cry.” Here’s Tom again on the fixture list problems piling up in the women’s game.

Across the pond, Jeff Rueter identifies MLS youngsters who could bolt themselves into Mauricio Pochettino’s USA USA USA squad for the GWC …

… while Jack Snape does something flamin’ similar with the A-League.

Ten years is a long time in football. A very long time. Just ask Leicester fans who have seen their side plummet from Premier League champions to League One. Ben Fisher speaks to Claudio Ranieri, Kasabian and others who were close to that seismic and unforgettable 2015-16 season.

And here are 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.

MEMORY LANE

13 April 1987: Clive Allen records the FA Cup final song Hot Shot Tottenham with Chas (right) and Dave after Spurs booked a spot in the Wembley final against Coventry City. They lost 3-2 of course. Oh Spurs!

ENJOY THE BANK HOLIDAY – WE’LL BE BACK ON TUESDAY