So we reach the final 10 games.

The final flurry of hope, ecstasy, devastation, six-pointers, must-wins and the likes.

The spell where the form table is made to look daft and relegation haunted players and sides are suddenly inspired. Or when the inevitable - in the case of the Derby, Sunderland and Aston Villa sides of the past - becomes a mathematical reality.

For Boro, the need is great to start winning games. Starting at Swansea City on Sunday. And then following that up with positive results against Hull City and Burnley.

But we're at the stage of the season where it's impossible not to have a glance or two at what's going on elsewhere.

So who are the key characters who could end up - in some cases unconsciously - playing a key role in the relegation shoot-out?

Gylfi Sigurdsson

We'll start with the man who Boro need to keep under wraps on Sunday.

In short, if Swansea are to stay up they need Sigurdsson to continue the outstanding form which has seen him rack up more assists than any other player in Europe's top leagues.

The fact that the Icelandic international has been directly involved in 53% of Swansea's league goals this year tells you all you need to know about his importance to the cause. He's also made more crosses than any of his teammates and covered more ground.

That contribution has unsurprisingly led to interest from elsewhere and you'd think boss Paul Clement would want to keep his star man under the radar. Anything but. In fact, he's talking Sigurdsson up as a potential Premier League Player of the Year.

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"I think he is more than good enough to be in that discussion, he probably gets overlooked because of the position of the team," Clement told WalesOnline.

"When teams are lower down in the table, the individual players don't always get that recognition they deserve, but he is a player that’s done really, really well."

But can Swansea ensure their main man remains settled? He's been linked with Everton, West Ham and Newcastle of late and is obviously far too good to go down to the Championship if Swansea end up in the bottom three.

Clement needs to keep Sigurdsson happy and on-song.

Jermain Defoe

For Defoe, see Sigurdsson. Yet with added importance.

Sunderland are as close to a one-man team as you'll find at a top level. Relegation is looking increasingly likely. Should the striker suffer an injury or turn his head to the summer and his next club then dropping to the Championship becomes a certainty.

The latter is extremely unlikely. While Sunderland will accept Defoe will need to move on if they go down, the 34-year-old is a consummate professional who will focus on the job in hand.

Yet he's gone four games without a goal now.

Sunderland need him scoring. If he doesn't then the Black Cats will reside in 20th spot from now until the end of the season.

Jermain Defoe made his England return last week

Mauricio Pochettino

Of Tottenham's remaining 10 fixtures, five of them are against Burnley, Swansea, Watford, Crystal Palace and Hull.

They play the first three teams mentioned there in their next three fixtures. And they head to Hull on the final weekend of the season.

Now Mauricio Pochettino's focus will be firmly on the top of the table but in battling to ensure they keep a firm grip on second place, Spurs can have a big say on what happens at the bottom.

When the title was mathematically beyond them last season, Tottenham crumbled and finished the season disappointingly.

Chelsea will win it but if Spurs finish second it likely means they've buttered their bread and won the games they should be winning - which may well impact on what happens at the bottom.

Walter Mazzarri

31 points already on the board and a home game with Sunderland this weekend - surely Watford will have enough?

But the Hornets have picked up just two points from their last 12 and are on the slide.

Mazzarri, though, isn't perturbed.

Walter Mazzarri

"I am not too concerned about the table," he said after the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last time out.

"At the moment we are not in too dangerous a position, but I am just disappointed we managed to throw away a point. We should have four or five more points this season."

Is Mazzarri rightly calm or burying his head in the sand? Could his Watford side get sucked in? They need to improve - and fast.

Diego Simeone

Are we all in agreement that Leicester will be playing Premier League football next year then?

Four wins on the bounce in all competitions and a six-point buffer on the drop-zone. It would take a sharp reverse in form and fortunes for the Foxes to get dragged back in.

But there is the matter of the Champions League still occupying their minds.

Could it be that the Leicester players focus on Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone instead of Stoke, Sunderland and their quest to finish the job of staying in the league.

Leicester players celebrate after a recent victory

And if Atletico do the business, how will Leicester respond? With four Premier League games before the second leg against the Spanish side, they may well be home and dry by then.

And there has been no signs in recent weeks that they're putting all their eggs in the European basket.

In reality, two home games in succession against Stoke and Sunderland should see them to safety. Just about.

But you never know.

Oumar Niasse

Oumar Niasse is Everton's priciest flop.

He cost £13.5m last January but come this season didn't play a second for the Toffees and reportedly wasn't even allowed a locker in the first team dressing room.

Hull, though, took a chance and Marco Silva has been rewarded for a January signing that was unorthodox, puzzling - yet perhaps inspired.

Hull City's Oumar Niasse

The 26-year-old has scored four goals for the Tigers including both in the pivotal 2-1 win over Swansea after coming off the bench.

"It was a signing which failed to leave me too excited I have to admit, but I've seen enough from the loan man to suggest he could be the player who scores six or seven goals between now and the end of the season," wrote Hull Daily Mail columnist Peter Swan.

"And if he can do that, helped by others chipping in, City will be in with a very good chance of staying up."


Leicester, Burnley, Hull, Swansea and Bournemouth all to play.

Are Stoke's players putting their towels on the lounger or scrapping until May 21 to hold on to ninth place?

Conte, Kante, Hazard, Costa and co

Chelsea are going to win the title - but when?

Ten games left and 10 points ahead, chances are the title will be wrapped up by the time Boro and Sunderland head for Stamford Bridge in the final month of the season.

Now even with the medals already around their necks, Chelsea would still be expected to swat their North East visitors aside, but you'd rather face N'Golo Kante and co with them having already won the title than with them needing to beat Boro to wrap it up.

In any case, you don't want to be in a position where you need to take something from the Bridge. Not against this formidable side.

They face Crystal Palace on Saturday. This is a first: Come on Chelsea.

Big Sam

Three wins and three clean sheets on the bounce. On the road to survival?

Well you'd have thought so, but then you take a glance at Palace's run-in.

Chelsea and Southampton away, Arsenal, Leicester, Liverpool and then Spurs. Then after a home game against Burnley which they'll need to win, it's Manchester City away and Manchester United away with a home game against Hull sandwiched in between.

Those home games against Burnley, Hull and Leicester present Palace with the chance to all but guarantee their survival, but it might get a bit hairy for them when you look at those remaining fixtures.

Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce

In Sam Allardyce, though, they have a manager who knows the bottom end of the Premier League like the back of his hand.

And a manager who has also tightened the team up.

"In recent weeks, the boss has taken us to one side on the training ground, both as a defensive unit but also as a team group, to work on our shape with a massive emphasis being on clean sheets, something which he has always been known for, wherever he has managed," said James Tomkins recently.

Big Sam will need to use every drop of his experience to ensure his players continue to improve and remain calm in the weeks ahead.

And, of course, Steve Agnew

"Steve's demanding, a tough guy," said Ben Gibson in an interview with The Sun today.

"He’s a fantastic coach and knows the way he wants to play.

"He spoke about drip-feeding those ideas to the lads. That doesn’t happen overnight.

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"You don’t automatically become Barcelona because you’ve a new manager. But the way he wants to play is free-flowing, expansive, creative.

"We believe in him, we will back him and we will fight tooth and nail for him."

Agnew has the backing of those above him and those around him. And he backs and trusts his own ability.

Other teams have seen a surge in form following a change in manager.

Manchester United - coming just 72 hours after Aitor Karanka's departure - was somewhat of a free hit for Agnew. But there's no getting away from the need for points starting in the biggest game of the season so far at Swansea.