By Alan Hansen BBC Sport football expert

The Premier League reaches its climax on Sunday with major issues to be decided at both ends of the table - and all you can ask is that you are in control of your own destiny.

Sir Alex Ferguson will know winning at Wigan will not be a formality

This is why if I was picking a position I would like to be in, it would be Manchester United at the top and Fulham at the bottom. The equation for both is a simple one because both know a win will give them their ultimate objective.

If Manchester United win at Wigan they will regain their title crown, while if Fulham win at Portsmouth they will complete a remarkable escape from the relegation zone. For the other clubs involved, they must wait and watch events at the JJB Stadium and Fratton Park.

United's trip to Wigan is already being touted as a formality by some, given the fact that Steve Bruce's side assured their safety with an outstanding win at Aston Villa and he used to play under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

Let me tell you that logic is flawed. Bruce has done an outstanding job at Wigan and has been the supreme professional throughout his career.

He and his players will want to round the season off with the sort of result that will show that this could be the start of something big for Wigan. Bruce, as he always has been, will be the consumate professional and this will be no easy task for United.

There is also an element of psychology in this. No professional wants to see another club having a party on his patch, or be part of the success of an opponent. Anyone who thinks Wigan will just happily stand by and let United win the title is sorely mistaken.

Remember 1995? The rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United was such that my old club were expected to roll over and hand the title to Blackburn Rovers, who they played on the final day of the season and who were managed by the great Anfield legend Kenny Dalglish.

Many Liverpool fans were more than happy to accept a defeat that day - and yet Liverpool showed full respect to the Premier League by beating Blackburn and ultimately it was United's own failure at West Ham that cost them the title.

I happen to think United will win, but they would have preferred to be at home in this game and I don't think Wigan will offer up the sort of challenge that saw West Ham dismissed so easily at Old Trafford on Saturday.

West Ham showed no sign of the commitment necessary to beat United - I suspect Wigan will be different.

Roy Hodgson has done a remarkably good job to put Fulham in sight of survival

Chelsea, meanwhile, will try to fulfil their part of the bargain by beating Bolton at Stamford Bridge and hope for the best from Wigan.

Avram Grant's side have done remarkably well to stick in there and push United all the way - but doing remarkably well and finishing second doesn't actually amount to what a club of Chelsea's stature wants to achieve.

Finishing first is the goal and their fate is currently out of their hands. They finished second under Jose Mourinho last season as well, so they will not want to go two seasons without the title.

It is an added incentive that these two teams will contest the Champions League final in Moscow on 21 May - and the side that gets the first trophy under their belt, in this case the Premier League, will feel a lot better as they head off to Russia.

At the bottom, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has conjured up an incredible revival to give them a chance of staying in the Premier League.

Roy is an experienced manager who has transformed Fulham from near relegation certainties to the team that knows exactly what it has to do on the last day.

Fulham have tightened up at the back and been bolstered by the return of the excellent and influential Jimmy Bullard in midfield as well as the experienced and intelligent Brian McBride in attack. Danny Murphy is in there in the midfield mix and they have played some very decent stuff.

People talk about them having just the sort of game you want at Portsmouth, against a team who are preparing for an FA Cup final and have one eye on Wembley.

Sorry, I just don't buy into that.

If Harry Redknapp is the manager I think he is, he will be desperate for victory to end a sequence of three defeats. He will not want to go to Wembley on the back of four losses because he will know there is no guarantee his team can just pitch up at Wembley and turn it on against Cardiff.

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It just doesn't work like that.

It is so tight down there at the moment and I can make a case for all three of the threatened clubs staying up.

Fulham know what they need to do. Reading will feel they have every chance of beating Derby and Birmingham have a better goal difference, plus the benefit of playing Blackburn in front of a fervent sell-out crowd at St Andrews.

I wouldn't risk the mortgage on saying who will survive, simply that I would always rather be in a position of knowing exactly what is required - and Fulham fit that bill.

Alan Hansen was talking to BBC Sport's Phil McNulty