The final

With 80% of this year's finalists as yet unknown it is largely pointless prophesying the fates of the five we do have. An awful lot will depend on the songs that qualify from the semi-finals and the order they're drawn in, but certain generalisations can still be made and conclusions drawn.

If the United Kingdom and Germany were ever going to make a dent on the scoreboard it wouldn't have been from the early starting positions they have found themselves in. Followed by anywhere between eight and ten songs that at least half of the audience will probably already have seen and heard, their chances of making any impact are significantly reduced.

At the other end of the final, Spain and Serbia are well-positioned to do much better. The hosts doing well is pretty much a given, although how high they climb on the scoreboard again depends what comes through from the semi-final and where it ends up. Spain is a little more semi-finalist proof, being so oddball, although it could find itself in a clump of novelty entries and suffer as a result. Assuming anyone goes for it in the first.

France sneaks into roughly the last quarter of the draw, and although that's perhaps better than being stuck at the front end of the final it may make little difference. The French entry is in a league of its own and will either work on stage and appeal to the audience or it won't.

Though it goes without saying, I would posit that the finalist most likely to do well is Serbia, while I see Germany and the United Kingdom jostling with each other for the Big 4's wooden spoon. Until then... on with the reviews!