Fernando Torres reminded Liverpool what they have been missing while Newcastle and Boro went down with a whimper.

By Eugene YS Han

HEROES

MANCHESTER UNITED
Manchester United showed how strong they are even with an understrength team. It spells even more doom to the rest of the league. Hull were desperate for a victory but Sir Alex Ferguson's latest batch of 'fledglings' took all three points with a controlled performance at the KC Stadium. If you take out Gary Neville, Wes Brown and Tomas Kuszczak, the remaining eight players only have an average age of 20! It is scary how United have such great depth and potential among their ranks. They could yet rule England for the next ten seasons.

NICOLAS ANELKA
Despite all the negative press that Nicolas Anelka has garnered during his stay at Stamford Bridge, he is still one of the key players for Chelsea. He has topped the Actim Players League for 2008/09 beating the likes of teammate Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo. Anelka even beat Ronaldo to the Golden Boot title with 19 league goals.

FERNANDO TORRES
The bottom line for Liverpool this season is clear: they missed Fernando Torres' goals. The Spaniard may have scored his 50th goal for Liverpool - faster than Anfield legends Ian Rush, John Aldridge and Robbie Fowler - but his absence up-front meant Liverpool could not turn draws into win and defeats into draws. Torres may have been suffering from fatigue from his Euro 2008 heroics and his injuries could have an indirect result of that. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez would be hoping Spain do not call up Torres for June's Confederations Cup so as to give El Nino his well-deserved rest.

SAMI HYYPIA
Liverpool bade farewell to a legend at Anfield - Sami Hyypia played his 464th and final game for Liverpool - after a wonderful career that saw him winning the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, two Super Cups, two FA Cups and two League Cups.

ROBBIE KEANE
Robbie Keane remains a scourge of Liverpool even after he left Anfield during the January transfer window. After scoring against Liverpool at Anfield in the last game of the season, he has now scored five goals in his last eight Premier League appearances for Tottenham against the Reds.

LEON OSMAN
Leon Osman scored a brace to help Everton clinch their first-ever win at Fulham under David Moyes. The midfielder who is perhaps the closest successor to Paul Scholes in the England line-up has cemented his place in the FA Cup final first eleven. Osman began his career as a budding striker as Moyes revealed post-match conference. His goals were so well-taken that any seasoned striker would feel jealous.

FULHAM
Fulham registered their best-ever finish to a season in the club's 130-year history with a seventh place finish. Credit to Roy Hodgson and his team.

HUGO RODALLEGA
Hugo Rodallega has now scored his third goal in four games for Wigan. Heskey and Zaki who?

BURNLEY
The giant-killer in Cup competitions have finally surfaced in the Premier League. Arsenal and Chelsea (as well as local rivals Blackburn) will not be looking forward to playing at Turf Moor.

ZEROES

NEWCASTLE UNITED
The lesson here for Newcastle is relegation will give them a great chance to rebuild the team from top to bottom. Expectations will still be sky high at St. James' Park of course but if they keep their best players, they could bounce back at the first attempt. But the sad reality is no one is sure whether the Magpies can keep their nest intact. Alan Shearer's decision to stay on and beyond may persuade most of the players to stay for the scrap. Damien Duff has already announced his decision to stay - subject to Shearer staying at the club. But it looks like it will get worse before it gets better on Tyneside.

MIDDLESBROUGH
Middlesbrough cannot score and they cannot defend - so they deserved to go down. Boro had the chance for redemption in the game against West Ham although they would need a big win over West Ham. But poor defending and goalkeeping meant Boro left Upton Park empty-handed. The departures of Mark Schwarzer, George Boateng and Lee Cattlemole have hurt the club more than what they have imagined.

HULL CITY
Phil Brown's Hull City may have survived by the skin of their teeth but it still did not mask the fact that his team stayed up because there were three more teams worse than them. Hull were just a point away from safety and faced a third-string Manchester United side on the final day of the season. But the Tigers still contrived to lose 1-0. Luckily, Newcastle matched Hull's result and Brown and his team lived to fight another season. The question is can Hull survive another season?

FANS KISSING CAMERA
At first it seemed innocent and fun, but now it's just unoriginal and disgusting. Pity the camera-person who has to wipe off the saliva of 'smooching' fans from the lens.

* Who has been your Heroes or Zeroes this season? Send them in to streettalk@espnstar.com or hanys@espnstar.com! The best ones will be published on 1st June .