IF EVERYTHING goes according to plan for Alex Ferguson he will leave Stamford Bridge today having sealed a 10th league title in 16 seasons, but the Manchester United manager believes Chelsea have a "big and unfair advantage" because of the early scheduling of the game and has angrily referred to the Premier League's television agreement with Sky as "shaking hands with the devil".

Ferguson's irritation stems from Chelsea having had an extra day to prepare following the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday. United played Barcelona on Wednesday and Ferguson believes Chelsea will be the much fresher team.

"The fixture is not fair in terms of its timing," he complained. "Chelsea's game was on Tuesday, so they have had four days to get themselves ready, which is a big advantage, there is no question about that. It is not fair but what can you do? If you shake hands with the devil, you can't complain. Football did a deal with television and the game is subject to television's control nowadays. But we are suffering because of that. Chelsea have had four days' rest and we have had two and a half.

"That extra day makes a hell of a difference. All we have been able to do is rest the players. We stayed overnight in Barcelona. Then we had a light training session at Barcelona's training ground. Being in the sun and having a day relaxing is probably the best thing we could have done. But it's not fair. It happened to us last year after the semi-final with AC Milan, when we had to play Manchester City on the Saturday lunchtime straight afterwards. We complained but they wouldn't listen to us. There's nothing we can do about it, so we just have to get on with it."

United are three points ahead of Chelsea with three games to play and their goal difference is so superior they will be assured of the title if they become the first side to win at Stamford Bridge since Arsenal in February 2004. A Chelsea victory, however, would put the two sides level on points, and United would then have to win their remaining two games, at home to West Ham and away to Wigan Athletic, to guarantee moving to within one of Liverpool's record of 18 championships.

Ferguson was not exaggerating when he described today's meeting as "undoubtedly the biggest game of the season". His team are in a position of considerable strength but it will not have escaped Chelsea's notice that, in each of the previous four seasons, United have taken only four points from their last three games.

"We are in a position that, if we win against them, anything can happen," said Avram Grant, the Chelsea manager. "We have to make sure we win first. It will be very difficult to do it, but anything is possible. You can see what has happened in the last few games. It shows it's not easy to play under pressure. They [ United] have drawn twice [ against Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers] because we've put this pressure on them. I'm optimistic by nature. We need to do our job, and that won't be easy, but I'm optimistic. If we win, we'll be very happy, and I think we would be happy at the end of the season too."

Grant expects to be without Frank Lampard, who is on compassionate leave after the death of his mother, but he can be encouraged by the fact that Chelsea are unbeaten at home in the league for 80 matches, a four-year run that stretches back to Claudio Ranieri's days in charge.

"It is an unbelievable record and one they should be proud of," Ferguson acknowledged. "But somewhere along the line someone is going to beat them. Life is like that and hopefully we can do it. But it won't be easy, as their record shows you. They're strong, powerful and experienced, and never at any time this season have I dismissed them. They don't make it easy for anyone."

The United manager is demanding a considerable improvement from the performance against Barcelona. "We didn't play that well on Wednesday," he admitted. "We have to recover our passing ability a bit better. That was one area that let us down, which was surprising because normally we are very good at that. We'll certainly impose ourselves better than we did against Barcelona."

Nemanja Vidic's return from illness means Ferguson will revert to his regular defensive line-up and, mindful of the return leg against Barcelona on Tuesday, he also spoke of "freshening up a couple of positions" - which, in Ferguson-talk, can mean as many as four or five changes.

Lampard's likely absence, meanwhile, is a significant setback for Chelsea. Grant has not publicly ruled him out of either today's fixture or Wednesday's second leg against Liverpool, but there is an acceptance at the club that the England midfielder will be given all the time he needs to recover mentally from a harrowing week.

"Frank hasn't trained and all our thoughts are with him," said Grant. "We are a close family here at Chelsea and all our sympathies are with Frank and his family. We just want to make sure that, when Frank comes back, we will still be fighting for the title and Champions League. Football is very important but there are things that are more important."