Chelsea will look to end what has been a dreadful season on a high note as they welcome Champions League bound Newcastle United to Stamford Bridge on the final day of the Premier League season this weekend.
To put into perspective just how disastrous a campaign this has been for Chelsea, their points total going into this game (43) would have seen them embroiled in a relegation scrap across many seasons during the Premier League era. They have only escaped that humiliation by virtue of the poor performances of those sides below them.
Todd Boehly's excessive and seemingly unstructured spending has left the club with only the possibility of finishing 11th in the table, and the very real chance of finishing 14th depending on how Wolves and West Ham get on.
Whatever happens in this dead rubber against Newcastle, this will be the worst Premier League finish for the club since the 1990s.
In stark contrast, the Geordie army are returning to Europe's top table, after guaranteeing a spot in the top four ahead of Liverpool. They could finish third with a win here if Manchester United fail to win, but ultimately, like Chelsea, this game really holds no significance for Eddie Howe's side.
Both teams will mostly be playing for the chance to send their fans home with something to cheer about. Geordies are likely to travel down to London in huge numbers for what will be a monumentous party whatever the result here, while Frank Lampard will hope to at least somewhat entertain the Chelsea fans on the final day of the season.
As they have been all campaign, Chelsea are in horrific form, by their own lofty standards. A win over Bournemouth a few weeks ago registered their only victory across 13 matches in all competitions. During that time, they were dumped out of the Champions League with ease by Real Madrid, losing both legs 2-0, and beaten by Aston Villa, Wolves, Brighton, Brentford, Arsenal, Man City and Man United.
What's more, the array of attacking flair brought in across two transfer windows has left them in the position to score only 8 goals in 10 games, hardly the kind of goalscoring they would have expected, and that's when taking into account the three goals they managed against Bournemouth and the two they scored to draw 2-2 with Nottingham Forest during that period.
Newcastle looked to be shaking a little after cruelly losing the League Cup final to Manchester United in February, but quickly bounced back from defeat against Man City to win nine of their next thirteen games in the Premier League and book themselves a place in next season's Champions League.
Despite the optimism which many would have had for their chances going into this season, on the back of their acquisition by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, nobody could have envisaged this level of consistency, and Eddie Howe is rightly adored on Tyneside and should be more widely lauded by the football community in general.
They haven't let their season peter out either, recording battling draws against relegation-threatened Leeds and Leicester and thumping an impressive Brighton side 4-1 to get themselves over the line in the past couple of weeks and confirm their UCL qualification.
On the face of all this evidence, Newcastle will surely be heavy favourites in the minds of most fans.
Perhaps simplfying Frank Lampard's difficult job of selecting 11 players from a squad so bloated it would make a Football Manager supernerd sweat, he will be without several key figures for this weekend's game, including Ben Chilwell, Mason Mount, Reece James, N'Golo Kante and Benoit Badiashile, all of whom are confirmed to be out of this clash. Meanwhile, Mateo Kovacic, Raheem Sterling and several others are major doubts for this weekend.
Meanwhile, Eddie Howe will be without the outstanding Nick Pope as his first choice keeper undergoes finger surgery, with either Martin Dubravka or Loris Karius expected to deputise in his place. Influential midfield star Joelinton will also miss this clash, as confirmed by the boss. Fringe players Jamaal Lascelles, Matt Ritchie and Emil Krafth are also unavailable as they recover from long term injuries of their own.
Expert Insight: This is a dead rubber so really anything can happen, but with the shackles off, Newcastle are likely to be even more free-flowing and forward-thinking than usual as they look to end the season on a high. With Chelsea unable to consistently score goals, Lampard's side will probably hope to keep things tight and limp over the line to the end of what has been an awful season for The Blues. They are almost certain to fail in doing so, which should lead to one of those classic, end-of-season barnburners with goals flying in left and right. We can only hope so.