I don't know what Sky would have done for their final-day coverage because we know the relegated clubs and the top two." Sky, however, have wisely declined to screen the games live.This was the final match of the season at Anfield and ranked as one of the most dramatic with Michael Owen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, two of the Premiership's most naturally-gifted strikers, cancelling each other out with two goals apiece. Owen had begun and ended it in burning form; he opened the season with half a dozen goals in his first four games and is closing it with six in his last three. He could in truth have had his second hat-trick in four days had a shot from a free-kick in the area awarded after Carlo Cudicini picked up Graeme Le Saux's back-pass not been cleared off the line. Had Steven Gerrard's shot been a little lower, then the last-day excitement would have been very strained indeed.History was against Chelsea, even with the FA Cup final fixed squarely in Liverpool's sights. Only once in their previous 40 attempts had they won at Anfield but despite having waited almost a year to win outside Stamford Bridge their away form has become more robust and they had been unlucky to lose at Leeds.Nevertheless, once Owen put them ahead in the eighth minute, they must have feared the worst. It seemed fitting the goal should have been fashioned by the two men who have dominated Liverpool's dramatic final run-in; Gary McAllister and Owen. Here, Owen, profited from a lovely flick-on by the Scot from Patrik Berger's pass and clipped his shot over the advancing Cudicini.

The game was an hour old when he struck again as the ball ricocheted around the Chelsea area like a pinball and Sami Hyypia, the first to react, nodded it into Owen's path with the most predictable of consequences.There were other chances; an overhead kick in the second half, a stooping running header in the first and a little dummy past Mario Melchiot which forced a fine two-handed save from Cudicini. After a disastrous performance at Stamford Bridge against Sunderland in which he had conceded four relatively soft goals, it seemed Claudio Ranieri would have to return to Ed de Goey but the Italian's faith in his fellow countryman has been justified.You might not say the same about Sander Westeveld, the one part of the machine overhauled by Houllier that is open to serious question. In October, after a 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, the Liverpool manager had compared his generosity to Santa Claus's. Yesterday evening, he allowed a low 35-yard shot from Hasselbaink to slither through his gloves and into the side of the net below the Kop to give the Londoners another present. He could, however, do little as the Dutchman held off St?ane Henchoz to drive home the second equaliser and his 25th of a season which has thoroughly justified the £15m fee Ranieri paid.True, Westerveld saved smartly with his legs from Eidur Gudjohnsen and tipped over Marcel Desailly's header but the doubts still remain.

There are very few about the other 10 in red shirts.Liverpool (4-4-2): Westerveld; Babbel, Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher; Gerrard, Hamann, McAllister, Berger; Heskey (Fowler, 80), Owen. Substitutes not used: Vignal, Smicer, Arphexhad (gk).Chelsea (4-3-3): Cudicini; Melchiot, Desailly, Terry, Le Saux; Wise, Dalla Bona, Morris; Gudjohnsen, Zola, Hasselbaink. Substitutes not used: Babayaro, Leboeuf, Poyet, Jokanovic, De Goey (gk).Referee: D Gallacher (Banbury).. Peter Reid has been offered a four-year £8m contract to continue as Sunderland's manager after taking the club from the foot of the First Division to the top half of the Premier League. Peter Reid has been offered a four-year £8m contract to continue as Sunderland's manager after taking the club from the foot of the First Division to the top half of the Premier League. Sunderland's chairman, Bob Murray, said yesterday that the new contract showed the club would stop at nothing to achieve success.

"This is a very important development for the club," Murray said. "We have worked very hard for six years and before the end of the season there will be a formal announcement about Peter's contract."His contract will be in keeping with the status the club now enjoys I'm delighted because you don't change a winning team. To get the best you have to pay for the best and you just have to see what has been achieved in Peter's six years here."Reid and Murray have been involved in a dialogue for several months over the lucrative new deal, which they hope will pave the way for the latest stage of development at the Stadium of Light. Both parties remain confident of a successful outcome.Reid took over at an ailing club in March 1995 and, although there have been ups and down during the intervening years, he has, with Murray's backing, dragged them to within touching distance of the Premiership's top six. Two years after securing their return to the top flight, the Black Cats go into their final game of the season at Everton on 19 May with their slim hopes of European qualification still alive.Even if they fail in that aim, they can finish no lower than eighth and, while that would be a disappointment after last season's seventh place, it would be more than satisfactory for a club which, three years ago, left Wembley heartbroken following a penalty shoot-out defeat by Charlton in the First Division play-off final.Graeme Souness, the Blackburn Rovers manager, has signed the Scottish defender Gordon Greer.