LONDON: With the Premier League season heading to one its most exciting conclusions in years, Chelsea could have the title wrapped up by halftime against Wigan.
Chelsea leads defending champion Manchester United by one point, and has won 16 of its 18 home games this season.
If Chelsea does come out and score early goals, like it did in a recent 7-0 victory over Stoke, it will leave United deflated and dreaming about how close it came to becoming the first to win the title four seasons in a row.
"All we can do is hope," said United manager Alex Ferguson, whose team faces Stoke at Old Trafford. "We have confidence that Wigan will do their best, they will try. I can say that without any fear at all. But we're just in that situation of hope."
The last time Chelsea played at home, they put seven past Stoke with three first-half goals. The team then followed that up with a 2-0 victory at Liverpool.
Despite that form, Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti won't accept he has won the title in his first season in English football until the final whistle sounds.
"To be champions we have to play as we played against Stoke, as we did against Liverpool," the Italian said. "We have to maintain the same confidence in our play. We have to maintain the same determination because nothing is decided.
"We have to pay a lot of attention. If you miss this game you don't have an opportunity to recover."
With United expected to beat Stoke at home, Chelsea can't really afford to draw against a Wigan side that won their meeting 3-1 in September. A Chelsea draw and a United win will send the title to Old Trafford by one point.
While the title race will be decided on Sunday, so will the third and fourth place.
Tottenham guaranteed a Champions League spot by beating Manchester City 1-0 Wednesday and is now out to finish ahead of Arsenal in third place.
Harry Redknapp's team is only two points behind Arsenal and visits a Burnley side which is already guaranteed to be relegated. Arsenal is at home to Fulham, which may well rest many of its players ahead of next Wednesday's Europa League final against Atletico Madrid in Hamburg.
But Arsenal's form has slumped in the final few games of the season, losing four games out of five, including being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was unable to stage his pre-game news conference on Friday because he had a sore throat and was unable to speak. Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin are likely to line up in attack against Fulham but Tomas Rosicky, Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner are on the team's lengthy injury list.
Portsmouth's final league game before relegation is at Everton, although the team still has the FA Cup final to come on May 15 against Chelsea.
Hull's first ever spell in the top flight will end after two seasons with a home game against Liverpool, which is trying to finish in the top six. Sixth-place Aston Villa is at home to Blackburn.
Also Sunday, it's: Bolton vs. Birmingham; West Ham vs. Manchester City; and Wolves vs. Sunderland.
The playoffs for promotion to the top flight also start this weekend, with Blackpool at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday in the first leg and Cardiff traveling to Leicester on Sunday.
Whichever team eventually wins the final at Wembley on May 22 will be promoted along with Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion, who won the two automatic spots after finishing first and second in the League Championship.
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