Middlesbrough and Newcastle dragged a load of teams back into the relegation mix this weekend - and this race is going all the way to the wire.
It was a mega result for Gareth Southgate. He'll have been scratching his head after one win in 19, but that win over Hull has pulled them back from the brink.
He was very positive in his team selection, it was an all-or-nothing line-up for him and it gives them a real chance of survival. They have to play Arsenal and Manchester United in their remaining six games, but three wins and a draw from the other four could keep them up.
King: settled crucial game
Gareth would have probably wanted Stoke to have won at Newcastle - but Andy Carroll's late leveller gives the Toon Army plenty of hope. There's an awful lot of teams still in it - and Tony Pulis won't be counting his chickens just yet either.
West Brom got a good draw, but there's no hope left for them. They've won a lot of admirers for their football, but their lack of cutting edge has cost them dearly.
Alan Wiley took plenty of plaudits for his display at Old Trafford, but he needs to come out and apologise this week.
Chris Kamara
Quotes of the week
But for the teams above them it will probably go to the last day of the season - and I'm sure Gareth would have taken that if you'd asked him before the Hull game.
At the top I was impressed by Liverpool, but Man United are going through a bad patch. Things are a bit nervy and aren't going quite right - but they are still winning games.
When Liverpool had their bad patch they weren't winning, but the ominous thing for the teams below United is that they've got more in their locker. Winning when you are playing badly is the mark of a title-winning team.
Lightning struck twice for Federico Macheda (although I'm not convinced he knew much about his goal at Sunderland). He'll have times in his career when those won't go in, but it was another genius decision from Sir Alex to put him on.
Kammy's Picks of the Weekend
GAME - Middlesbrough 3-1 Hull City
There were plenty of exciting games. Liverpool were very impressive, Arsenal came from a goal down, Bolton almost shocked Chelsea and Villa and Everton shared a classic. But in terms of importance I'll go for Middlesbrough v Hull. It was a must-win game for Boro, a defeat would have put them down, and it could turn out to be a vital, vital game.
TEAM - Liverpool
I'll go for Liverpool for keeping up their pursuit of Manchester United. They keep putting pressure on Sir Alex Ferguson's team and they keep scoring goals. Impressively, they stuck four past Blackburn without Steven Gerrard, which hasn't always been the case for them in the past.
PLAYER - Fernando Torres
He produced two great goals - yet again. In the absence of Gerrard he led by example and his first goal was simply world class. Not many people would be able to finish from that sort of position and he is a big reason why this title race still has plenty of life left in it.
GAFFER - Sir Alex Ferguson
The substitutions once again won the game for Manchester United and the guy is just genius. I didn't know Bill Shankly, Brian Clough was something else but in our lifetime I don't believe there has been anybody better than Sir Alex. We are very fortunate to be witnessing something very special.
GOAL - Matthew Bates
I tend to give this to the most important goal, rather than the best goal, and so for that reason Matthew Bates' is the goal of the weekend. People will talk about the Marlon King goal against his former club (he was always going to come back to haunt them), but the Bates goal was they key one. He's a good kid, he worked his socks and he repaid Southgate's brave decision to start him ahead of some of the more experienced players.
SAVE - Tim Howard
It was a ding-dong game at Villa Park and Everton will be disappointed with the draw - especially after a very questionable penalty decision for Villa's equaliser. But they could have gone away with nothing had it not been for Tim Howard keeping out Nathan Delfouneso with a fine stop in injury time.
GRIPE - Why why Wiley?
We don't want to see players sent off, but we do want to see the laws of the game being upheld. Four weeks ago Alan Wiley decided to send Nemanja Vidic off against Liverpool and this weekend he only gave Kieran Gibbs a yellow for a very similar incident. Antonio Valencia was going through on goal, the goalkeeper would not have got there first and it should have been a red card. Arsenal were classy after that, but from Steve Bruce's point of view it cost Wigan the game. Alan took plenty of plaudits for his display at Old Trafford, but he needs to come out and apologise this week.
Kammy answers your questions...
Do you want Chris Kamara to answer YOUR question? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form at the bottom of the page.
WEAR STAYING UP?
Kammy, what are your feelings on the worrying lack of points Sunderland have managed to collect over the past few months? Do you think Sunderland have enough quality in the tank to pick up sufficient points to avoid the drop? I truly feel Niall Quinn went for the easy and cheap option to employ Ricky Sbragia as the manager and it appears to be backfiring. Especially when the obvious choice of Big Sam was available, look what he has achieved with Blackburn, we need that management at the moment. Gary Robinson. 
KAMMY SAYS: I thought Sunderland were out of danger, but they've quietly slipped right into the thick of it. They do have some decent fixtures to come and Niall Quinn is no mug. Who knows, he might go down there and help Ricky out himself? I think Niall decided that Ricky deserved an opportunity and after a good start we all thought he was going to do a decent job. They've dropped like a stone but if they can get Djibril Cisse and Kenwyne Jones on form then they've got a great chance.
ZONE MOAN
I am a Liverpool fan and I am sick of hearing fans and media pundits alike criticise Rafa Benitez for playing zonal marking every time we concede from a corner or wide free kick. When other teams concede such goals when man-marking it goes unmentioned. Am I right in thinking that zonal marking is a more successful system of defending than man-marking, or if not, it is just as good? Many thanks and keep up the good work! Andy Ashcroft (Merseyside)
KAMMY SAYS: Looking at the stats, Liverpool and Middlesbrough have conceded the most goals from corners and wide free kicks. Teams who mark man-for-man have regularly conceded fewer goals and we've seen teams concede important goals due to zonal marking. Boro might have drawn with Stoke, Liverpool might have drawn with Chelsea - people have been getting free headers at goal against those teams and that can't be right.
Maybe it's not the system, maybe the personnel aren't doing their job properly. We did zonal marking when I was at Leeds, but we all had specific jobs in the area. It's become a grey area for some teams and players don't seem to be culpable; sometimes players are in the right area but they're not attacking the ball. That uncertainty is creating flaws in the zonal marking system and it might be simpler to give each player a man to mark.
Comments (14)
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Wayne Beverley (Middlesbrough fan) says...
John Locke,stick to being a Harrogate Town fan!You obviously dont have a clue about football at all.Middlesbrough have and always will produce home grown talent that graces the premier league.As well as having seven homegrown players playing against Hull on Satruday gone,there are also numerous other players in the same league who started at Middlesbrough.You try telling the England staff at all levels that Middlesbrough have no squad of homegrown talent,England from Under 15's upwards would struggle to get a team together without Middlesbrough's talented youngsters.We may get relegated because we have underperformed this season,not because our players arent good enough.For proof you only have to see that we have given the top four the most challenging games over the past 5 seasons.
Posted 15:20 16th April 2009
James Garbutt (Middlesbrough fan) says...
John Locke, please stop talking a load of tosh, have you heard yourself! Really understand that all premier league sides, should gain automatic respect and credit for being there in the first place. Harrogate town, who are they? Please stop making this dicussion heated, yes its your view on things but its a load of rubbish.
Posted 14:23 16th April 2009
Neil Ibbitson (Hull City fan) says...
As a true tigers fan I am totally behind Hull Cuty getting the points to stave off relegation. I believe we are in for a much tougher time next season though. Need a quality 15 goal a season striker
Posted 19:10 14th April 2009
John Locke (Harrogate Town fan) says...
Ray Mitford why should Boro get credit for playing lots of Academy players? They arent even in the best at the prem at it, Villa and West Ham have played more this season, and they are of a better quality. Boro's team is crap, and they deserve no respect for playing academy players because those academy players are crap. If it meant something than every team in the league would play lots of academy players. But it doesnt mean anything, quality players mean everything and thats why teams play good players. Boro only play their academy players because they have no money and cant attract players. If someone was stupid enough to go there they would get in ahead of these academy players. boro fielded eleven crap players at the start against hull:- . so come on sky dont give boro the credit they dont deserve.
Posted 16:34 14th April 2009
Chris Smithson (Middlesbrough fan) says...
People say no team is 'too good' to be relegated .... but the Chairman of Boro (Steve Gibson) is definitely Premiership class and therefore does not deserve his team to be relegated. The FA should award Boro 9 extra points - 6 for having the best Chairman and 3 for 'stealing' points from us in a previous relegation fight.
Posted 16:28 14th April 2009
jim barron (Manchester United fan) says...
enter comment... I believe Sir Alex Ferguson is the master of bringing though to the first team. You can clearly see that the current young crop of Fabio, Macheda, Rafael and Johnny Evans and think its a dying art among the managers coming into the premier league. What a sad loss he will be when he hangs up his hairdryer.
Posted 16:28 14th April 2009
Albertus Spies (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...
can't wait for the final day game at Anfield...Keane scoring in a Spurs victory to ensure the Scousers don't win the league! Can't wait
Posted 14:18 14th April 2009
Michael Hatton (Arsenal fan) says...
Valencia was leaning on Gibbs before the foul and this hasn't been mentioned enough. In fact Gibbs was almsot horizontal before he grabbed the shirt, which I am not condoning. Gibbs stood up well to Valencia before the yellow card and was never quite the same again. Arsenal were poor in the first hour, but really took Wigan apart after the first goal. The game was actually played on a football pitch and not a ploughed field like last season's match. Well done Wigan in getting their pitch up to scratch.
Posted 11:26 14th April 2009
Aaron Melrose (Rangers fan) says...
personally i think hull are gone it's too much to ask to say they have to win 3 games and draw one also man utd are looking more like their fluking results than actually playing and liverpool is nothing without gerrard as proven on wednesday when essien stop him playing i mean it's only blackburn and chelsea played well all in all i think man utd will take the title but arsenal have got the champions league and fa cup will go to chelsea and rangers will win the spl in the last old firm derby so up the guners and the gers !!
Posted 18:45 13th April 2009
Ray Mitford (Middlesbrough fan) says...
boro fielded six academy players at the start against hull:- jones,mcmahon,taylor,wheater,bates,downing we finished with seven on the field(adam johnson). so come on sky give boro the credit they deserve.
Posted 18:28 13th April 2009
David Ward (Liverpool fan) says...
Kammy, When are you going to team up with jeff on countdown in dictionary corner, I t will liven the show up a bit???
Posted 17:22 13th April 2009
Everestus Eze (Arsenal fan) says...
Arsenal FC is a great team to watch play but the fans are only dissapointed by their recent slump in winning silverware. But my advice to the fans is simple let them keep faith in Wenger.
Posted 16:56 13th April 2009
Stuart Fascia (Middlesbrough fan) says...
Given ourselfs a real fighting chance now, getting that win over Hull. I still think Gareth can be a good manager for us, sticking with the right man has pretty much always proven the right thing to do and hopefully we'll now push on out of the relegation zone with a passionate win against Fulham and stay up this season C'mon Boro! Fingers crossed
Posted 16:36 13th April 2009
Tom Bennett (Aston Villa fan) says...
How Villa have lost their champions league dreams; I must admit, 7 or 8 games ago i thought Villa will be competing in the champions league next season. Everything was in place; Arsenal not winning and Villa still churning out results. But then came Villa vs Stoke. from being 2-0 up, and looking very comfortable we let in two goals in two minutes, embarrasing and frustrating. Many Villa fans talk about the lack lusture team in the Uefa cup for our down fall, but for me its not that. letting in them two goals at stoke caused are downfall, since then i feel the Villa players lost beleif in themselves, notably Young and Agbonlahor. this is proved by the fact they have being playing poorly, goaless and left out of England squad. But Kammy i was wondering what do you think the cause of Villa's downfall is?
Posted 15:33 13th April 2009
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