The Fat Lady is starting to gargle.

Watching the Hammers roll over and have their collective bellies rubbed at Notlob on Saturday the soundtrack could have been The End by The Doors. I can imagine that somewhere in the north west of England Avram Grant woke up from a fitful sleep, peered through the blinds and said, "Bolton, I was still in Bolton."

I'm sure that the mention of some football grounds can psyche out some players and being told all week by the media that you haven't won at the Reebok since God was a lad can't have helped the mental preparation. The bottom half of the table at the moment is balanced between farce and hysteria, one week West Brom are struggling and then two decent results later they are catapulted into the top half. I have this horrible feeling that it's all down to three from four: Blackpool, Wigan, Wolves and Us. On paper we have the strongest squad but as Don Goodman reminded the terminally stupid on Saturday, during his assessment of the Wolves v Everton game, "Football isn't played on paper."

Anyway, turning our backs on the horror show that is this season in the Premiership it's the second legs of the European competitions this week with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Schalke looking ever so slightly favourites to go through. The fourth semi-final place will be decided at Old Trafford and it's hard to see Chelsea salvaging anything from what has to be a very disappointing season - it could be the last hurrah for several of the 'big name' players so it will be interesting to see how they progress.

In the Europa League it's been the second coming for Portuguese football, and boy does that country need some good news, with Benfica, Porto and Braga all looking like making the last four along with Villareal. This years final will be in Dublin and given the historical links between the Irish and the people of the Iberian peninsula there will be much in common between all present whichever two teams make the final.