Grand National weekend or not, Sir Alex Ferguson won’t welcome his old Devon Loch analogy this year. He has used it three times and seen Blackburn, Arsenal and Chelsea power away in the final furlong to embarrass him, and now, of course, it is Manchester United who are the leaders in the title race, the championship theirs to lose.

A historic, never-to-be-forgotten week of Champions League drama has set up an unprecedented denouement, with Chelsea striving for a clean sweep of the club honours and United chasing a second treble, to rival their triumph in 1999. There is the lip-smacking prospect of the two leviathans of English football going toe-to-toe three times in two weeks, with the Premiership and European and FA Cups at stake. There are a few imponderables in that equation, requiring Blackburn to oblige in today’s FA Cup semi-final and Milan and Liverpool both to do likewise at the same stage of the Champions League, but the odds are in favour, rather than against.

However it pans out, those of us of nonpartisan persuasion can sit back and savour the certainty that with three English clubs in the last four of the European Cup, it is guaranteed to be a blue riband finale - or should that be red letter day? Portsmouth’s unexpected victory over United last week jemmied the Premiership wide open, and the marvellous, if contrasting, performances the two contenders produced in Europe last Tuesday confirmed the long-held belief that they are as good as one another, albeit in chalk and cheese ways.

United’s startling seven-goal rout of Roma attracted all the headlines, and understandably so, but Chelsea’s result was no less impressive. The two matches that same glorious night epitomised the distinct virtues of the two teams: United’s coruscating forward play; Chelsea’s attritional, determined intensity. The purist would have to side with Ferguson’s buccaneers, those of less aesthetic bent love the unquenchable spirit Jose Mourinho has instilled at Stamford Bridge, for so long the refuge of the effete.

United, with their far-flung following, spending power and curmudgeon of a manager, used to polarise opinion like nobody else, but Chelsea, who were everybody’s favourite “other” team under the endearingly eccentric Claudio Ranieri, have changed so much since the advent of Roman Abramovich that an ABC - Anybody but Chelsea - mentality has taken root. That said, there are many who would like to see Mourinho thumb his nose at his spoilt absentee employer by winning the lot in what is generally believed to be his valedictory season; others who would prefer the doyen, aka Ferguson, to strengthen his claim to be the best manager of modern times. Neither faction is likely to be entirely satisfied, the respective teams too good to be totally eclipsed by the other.

An impartial analysis of the remaining fixtures, conducted with the aid of a straw poll of objective observers, suggests a split in the silverware. When the Premiership race resumes, the two great rivals both play relegation candidates, and United are odds on to beat the grafting journeymen from Sheffield, with whom they have only their suffix in common. Chelsea face a more onerous task away to West Ham, but Drogba and company look too good for the corroded Irons defence. Mourinho said on Friday that if his team were defeated at Upton Park and blew the title they could lose all their remaining games, but he doesn’t see it happening, and nor does any logical appraisal of the situation. Maximum points is again the likeliest outcome when United take on Middlesbrough at home and Chelsea travel to Newcastle before the Premiership’s finest take up their European cudgels again.

Milan will be better than Roma, which isn’t saying a lot, but Italian clubs in general aren’t the force they were, and over the two legs of their semi-final United ought to come out on top. The other semi, which pits Chelsea against Liverpool in a rerun of 2005, is harder to call. If the two matches were in the Premiership, the smart money would be on Chelsea to garner most points, but the European Cup brings out the best in Liverpool, and a rekindling of the spirit of Istanbul could disappoint those looking for a United-Chelsea final. Over two legs, however, Liverpool appear to lack the firepower to unhinge the admirable Cech-Terry-Carvalho axis.

Back in the Premiership, it is easy to envisage the contenders both dropping points the same weekend when United travel to sparky Everton and Chelsea are at home to Bolton, who enjoy nothing more than sticking it to the “southern softies”.

And so to the Manchester derby, seen by some observers, but not this one, as a banana skin for United. Sure, City will be up for it, doing their best in the role as party poopers, but their best is pretty ordinary these days. Similarly, Chelsea will surely be too tenacious for Arsenal, who seem to have been on the beach, mentally, for weeks.

Such a sequence of events would bring us to the eagerly awaited summit meeting at Stamford Bridge on May 9 with United still three points clear of Chelsea. Mourinho and his players believe they will win, I don’t. All the pressure will be on them, a draw would suit United, and in such circumstances there is every chance of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney or Ryan Giggs conjuring a goal or two to nullify any damage done at the other end.

The mind games both managers indulge in will be tedious or an intriguing sub-plot, you choose your media outlet and take your choice. Tony Adams, who, as Harry Redknapp’s coach, devised United’s downfall last week, takes great interest in such things as he prepares for a return to management. He studied under a master of psychology in Arsãne Wenger, at Arsenal, and says: “Managers use mental skirmishes to take the pressure upon themselves and keep it off their players. Sometimes they want to make their players feel great - unbeatable. There are other times when Sir Alex, in particular, likes to make them feel that everyone is against them. Mourinho does that, too, and it works on young, impressionable minds.”

If, as it is presumed here, it is a draw at the Bridge, the title would be won and lost, and Chelsea’s demoralisation would be such that they could slip up again at home to Everton four days later, in which case a United victory in their last game, at home to West Ham, would leave them champions by five points. The momentum would then be with United going into the knockout competitions, and Mourinho’s doomsday scenario could come into play.

On the other hand, Chelsea’s desire for revenge and their resolve not to end the season empty-handed might give them the edge in either, or both, cup finals. I take Chelsea to triumph in Athens, leaving Mourinho to exit with a second European Cup under his arm, and United, whose sense of history is second to none, to complete the Double at the new Wembley.

Key dates in the countdown to immortality

Eighteen crucial games over the next fi ve and a half weeks will decide the fate of Manchester United and Chelsea as they battle it out for three major trophies. Joe Lovejoy, the Sunday Times football correspondent, offers his prediction of who will finish on top in the most exciting season for years

April
15 Blackburn v Chelsea FA Cup semifinal: Chelsea win
17 Man Utd v Sheff Utd Premiership: United win
18 West Ham v Chelsea Premiership: Chelsea win
21 Man Utd v Middlesbrough Premiership: United win
22 Newcastle v Chelsea Premiership: Chelsea win
24 Man Utd v AC Milan Champions League: United win
25 Chelsea v Liverpool Champions League: Chelsea win
28 Everton v Man Utd Premiership: Draw Chelsea v Bolton Premiership: Draw

May
1 Liverpool v Chelsea Champions League: Draw
2 AC Milan v Man Utd Champions League: Draw
5 Man City v Man Utd Premiership: United win
6 Arsenal v Chelsea Premiership: Chelsea win
9 Chelsea v Man Utd Premiership: Draw
13 Man Utd v West Ham Premiership: United win to be crowned champions Chelsea v Everton Premiership: Draw
19 FA Cup final United beat Chelsea
23 Champions League final Chelsea beat United