And now the end is near and so I face the final curtain...

Match of the Day on the last day of the season is always a little bit different. Last season's relegation decider was one of the most memorable programmes of recent years as four crucial games were cut together to reflect every twist and turn as it happened.

I was at Stoke against Wigan that day, getting news from the other relevant matches fed into my ear as the game unfolded. Wigan's scenario was that they had to win and you will recall that they did exactly that. Blackburn and Wolves also clung to safety while Blackpool and Birmingham bit the dust around them.

Every cruel surge of hope and flood of despair was brilliantly reflected on the programme as it flipped from venue to venue.

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If at the beginning of this first full season of the second coming of Kenny Dalglish at Anfield you had asked Liverpool fans whether they would take a trophy and European qualification, I fancy most would have reckoned on that being a very decent outcome.

Liverpool achieved both those goals in one afternoon by winning the Carling Cup last Sunday.

Now, what will the rest of the season hold?

In some ways, Liverpool are at a crossroads. The FA Cup is a very enticing prospect, with a home quarter final against Stoke City, no Manchester United, Manchester City or Arsenal in their way - and no guarantee that Chelsea will make the last eight either.

But a return to the Champions League would be the most significant achievement of all.

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When Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas trudged off the pitch at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples on Tuesday, you could hardly say he was heading for the sanctuary of the dressing room.

After another defeat, this time to Napoli, it is in the dressing room that his problems seem to lie.

I like Villas-Boas. He was a bit sparky when I suggested to him that Chelsea were not the better team against Manchester United recently, but we agreed to disagree with a firm handshake and a sort of smile.

When you take into account that he conducts all this verbal sparring with the media in a foreign language, he is all the more impressive.

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