It would have been nice if Aston Villa only needed to win to ensure their place in next season's Champions League. That was not meant to be in the cards for Unai Emery's men, however.
While being favored to win at Old Trafford on Sunday, that too will come with the known difficulties, staring Villa down from the past. They should be able to earn the needed set of three points, despite historical trends at the aforementioned venue.
Where the difficulty remains is knowing that it will not entirely be up to them.
Assuming Villa win, and by all means, after watching the Europa League final against Tottenham, AVFC should be able to do that; they'll need help from the opponents of one of three Premier League counterparts.
Level on points are Chelsea and Newcastle. The point differential is too far gone at this point, where that aspect could end up being the deciding factor to the detriment of Villa. Manchester City sit two points ahead of all three of these clubs.
For those who would like a little help with the arithmetic, a Villa win will require either of the three teams above them to lose. With a Villan win or draw, Chelsea or Newcastle losing would also do the trick.
Either way, between Nottingham Forest, Everton, or Fulham, one of those teams needs to accomplish something in the final Matchday.
Most are looking to Forest, seeing as they too will be chasing a spot higher up in the standings. During all of the chaos and frantic checking across the league, however, fans will know truly anything is possible.
Accomplish task at hand first for Aston Villa
Regardless of how motivated or deflated Man Utd may or may not be following their UEL Cup loss, Villa knows what they need to do. While their destiny and European destination are not entirely in their hands, most of it is.
Defeat this side at their venue and buck the trend that has plagued AVFC for far too long. Let the rest of the results fall as they may from there. Maybe some preventable points were dropped earlier when they didn't have to be.
Between how this club has competed throughout all competitions and their EPL form in the closing months, as long as they give a performance up to the standard that they are capable of, regardless of how Sunday turns out, it will be a year that Villa can look back proudly on.