The crystal ball gazers will be having a field day with this season's Central League football competition.
Four teams, Olympic (30 points), Wairarapa United (28), Napier City Rovers (27) and Miramar Rangers (22), are locked in an intense battle for the top spot with their present positions not necessarily telling the whole story about their chances of capturing the title.
Olympic have just four matches to play to complete their programme, Wairarapa United and Napier City Rovers have five and Miramar Rangers seven.
The latter's situation has been complicated by them making the semifinals of the Chatham Cup, as have fellow Central League side Lower Hutt City.
Olympic have a tough finish to their season. They are away to Miramar Rangers next weekend and then will play Western Suburbs (13 points) at home, Lower Hutt City (21) away and Napier City Rovers away.
Wairarapa United are away to Wellington United (13) this Saturday and then have bottom-placed Maycenvale United (4) at home, followed by a vital three weeks when they take on Miramar Rangers away, Lower Hutt City at home and Napier City Rovers away.
Beating all three of them will be a big challenge by any standards.
Napier City Rovers will be confident of a win when they travel to Maycenvale United in the next round but they too have a rugged ending to their league season: Miramar Rangers at home, Western Suburbs away, Olympic at home and Wairarapa United at home.
All their more difficult assignments are at home, however, and that will clearly aid their cause.
Miramar Rangers will complete their Central League programme on September 8, two weeks after Wairarapa United. They have a vital clash with Olympic this Saturday and it won't get any easier over the following two weekends when they take on Napier City Rovers away and Wairarapa United at home. Then come Wellington United away, Maycenvale United at home, Petone at home and Lower Hut City at home.
Where then would a smart punter place his money? Without being parochial, Wairarapa United is as a good a bet as any as the form book suggests they should win their next two games, something which can't be said with any level of confidence for the other leading participants.
If Wairarapa United do win their remaining games, they could have a valuable cushion going into their last three games, which, will thoroughly test their character and resolve.
It is Napier City Rovers who could be the main stumbling block to Wairarapa United winning what would be their first ever central league title - it was Napier City Rovers who beat Wairarapa United 2-1 in last year's Chatham Cup final and who eliminated them from that competition this season.
Their clash in Napier on August 26 is the last for both teams and it remains to be seen whether fate will again have them decide who captures the major prize.