You can have the ball and pass it around but it is all about putting it in the white thing at one end and not letting it in the white thing at your end.

A pearl of wisdom courtesy of Ian Holloway, and far more family friendly than the advice that Wayne Rooney was giving to a national TV audience, although stick it in the middle of a baguette and add a French accent and it could easily have been Arsene Wenger.

Holloway also sought to simplify his team’s task in staying in the Premier League. Blackpool could “afford” to lose 5 of their remaining 7 games, he reckons, so long as they win 2. Given that they play Arsenal this weekend and even though the game is at Bloomfield Road it’s probably going to be 2 wins in 6 games – a tough ask for a team that has only won twice in their last 13.

Holloway, then, thinks that 39 points will be enough. Steve Bruce may not agree.

His Black Cats have been marooned in the 30s since Darren Bent left for Villa in January and their form has been so poor that he’s now chewing 2 wasps at a time. Sunderland won their first game without the striker but nothing since and in 8 games have picked up only 4 points which is resulting in the most excruciating of crawls to the magical 40 points for a club that was challenging for 5th spot in the New Year.

Bruce won’t be thrilled to be hosting West Brom, a team whose fortunes have been the exact opposite, unbeaten in the 5 games since Roy Hodgson replaced Roberto Di Matteo and come to the Stadium of Light on the back of a win against Liverpool and a draw against Arsenal. Indeed, if the Baggies beat the Black Cats then they’ll actually climb above them in the table.

Though he didn’t say it, it must have been pleasing for Roy to beat the club that sacked him midseason, especially given the banner that the Liverpool fans rolled out pre-match. The Baggies fans post-match made sure Roy knew how much they appreciated him.

Whilst it’s still too close to call at the bottom, the title is very much United’s to lose now. Arsenal’s toothless effort against Blackburn and Stoke’s stoic performance against Chelsea means that United need only avoid defeat at the Emirates to put one hand on the trophy, regardless of what happens in the game against the Blues.

Chelsea’s attention, therefore, will turn to getting second spot but games are running out. They are also running out for Fernando Torres to convince Ancelotti that he should not be the striker to leave in the summer.

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