Soccer: The Souness monster

It's a long bow to draw but the most influential character in the season's finale of the English Premier League may be, wait for it, not Chelsea's Jose Mourinho but the craggy and uncompromising Graeme Souness of Newcastle.

Newcastle play both Chelsea and Manchester United in the final phases and Souness has demonstrated that he is getting his head around a team full of difficult personalities - Patrick Kluivert, Kieron Dyer, Lee Bowyer and the mercurial Laurent Robert, not to mention the get-thee-behind-me-Satan incident where Souness packed off a rebellious Craig Bellamy - and is turning them into a dangerous side.

He is doing it by reigning in his famous temper but not loosening his grip on his players.

On the departed Bellamy, he told The Times: "The chap that's just gone, in senior football, he's averaged 9.3 goals per season and half of those weren't in the top flight. That's not good enough for a striker at a club like this. If we want to challenge, we need two strikers who are near 20 goals on a regular basis.

"I'm also experienced enough in this business to know that if I'd been seen to be weak in this situation, there was no future for me with the players in the Newcastle dressing room or any job that I go to after Newcastle United."

Souness is also getting better results out of players, like Dyer, who were such a thorn in the side of the last regime.

This year, Newcastle have played 12, won eight, drawn three and lost one (against Arsenal) in all competitions. Souness hasn't won over the Geordie fan base but the boos are lessening in intensity as Souness demonstrates that he's cleaned up a leaky defence and invigorated the midfield.

On the face of it, Chelsea's run to the Premier League title is so clear that the bookies have stopped taking bets. They are six points clear of Manchester United and have a game in hand. But it was at Newcastle that tremors began to appear in Chelsea's apparently unshakeable grip on the title.

Newcastle destroyed Chelsea's hopes of a quadruple (league, Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup) with a 1-0 win at St James' Park in the cup. Since then, Chelsea have kept treble hopes alive by winning the Carling Cup 3-2 against Liverpool. But not without problems.

There were 11 minutes of normal time left when Chelsea floated an innocuous-looking free kick into the penalty area. Liverpool's captain, Steven Gerrard, leaped to clear but the ball flicked off his head and into the net. If Liverpool had hung on for those last 11 minutes, there was a feeling that Chelsea could've finished the season with nothing.

Mourinho had erred against Newcastle in the FA Cup by throwing on all three reserves at halftime, only to find himself reduced to 10 men when injury struck Wayne Bridge, then nine men when keeper Carlo Cudicini was red-carded.

Mourinho then took his team to Spain, to face Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona. Everything went to plan as Chelsea sat back and played on the break - they went in a goal up at halftime, which would have been 2-0 if Didier Drogba hadn't spurned an excellent chance.

Drogba was red-carded in the second half and, ultimately, Chelsea were lucky to get away with a 1-2 defeat. Mourinho's ungracious response to this setback was a refusal to speak to the press.

So, wobbles in the Carling Cup and wobbles in the Champions League. In the EPL, Chelsea have a dream run home - Norwich, West Brom, Palace, Southampton and Birmingham. But they do have a difficult two-week, four-game run from April 16 to April 30 during which they play Manchester United and Arsenal in four days, followed by Fulham and a trip to Bolton.

Last match of the season - on May 14 - is against Newcastle at St James' Park, where the rot was first seen to be setting in. If Chelsea slip up against both Manchester United and Arsenal, the Newcastle match will take on huge relevance.

Manchester United also have a comfortable run-in, although their April 16-30 stretch is arguably tougher than Chelsea's. They play Chelsea on April 16, followed by Everton away on the 20th, Newcastle at home and Charlton away. Against all this is the fact that Chelsea have not lost to either Arsenal or United this season - drawing with the former and beating the latter (twice). They've also beaten Newcastle earlier in the season - by 4-0 at home and 2-0 away.

But the Geordie resurgence and Chelsea wobbles may mean they face a different proposition on May 14, particularly if Newcastle also have Europe to play for.