SOCCER:Roman Abramovich yesterday showed his faith in Avram Grant by giving the Chelsea manager a four-year contract. The club's owner has been sufficiently impressed by how Grant has responded to the challenge of succeeding Jose Mourinho, who left the position in September, to entrust him with the next phase of his vision for Chelsea.

Abramovich wants to establish the club as the premier force in Europe, with a commercial reach across the globe, and craves success in the Champions League as a means to that end. Grant says he intends to reach the final of the competition during his tenure and he sees no reason why that cannot be this season.

Having taken over in the wake of the 1-1 home draw with Rosenborg in the opening group game, Grant guided the team to qualification to the knockout phase with a game to spare. Chelsea will face a group runner-up in the last-16 draw a week today.

Grant (52) arrived at the club in the summer as the director of football, to work with Mourinho. But when the Portuguese departed, after the breakdown of his relationship with Abramovich, Grant became manager.

His mandate has been to inject greater fantasy into Chelsea's play while bringing success and he believes his "different way" is succeeding. After a Premier League defeat at Manchester United in his opening fixture, one he had only three days to prepare for, he has put together an unbeaten run of 16 matches, including a 2-1 Champions League win at Valencia. That impressive sequence faces a stern test at Arsenal on Sunday.

Grant is very much Abramovich's man. The pair were seen strolling along Fulham Broadway after the win against Sunderland last Saturday, which would have been unheard of for Mourinho.

Grant had been promised a new deal to reflect his job change and though yesterday's announcement was little more than a formality, the length of the new term has encouraged the Israeli.

It kills talk of Henk ten Cate, Grant's assistant, who has coached Ajax among other clubs, being groomed to succeed him in the near future.

Rafael Benitez is confident his fractured relationship with Liverpool's American owners will be repaired, provided there is agreement on his managerial role when he meets George Gillett and Tom Hicks this weekend.

Liverpool's co-chairmen are due on Merseyside before Manchester United's visit to Anfield on Sunday and will meet Benitez for the first time since he publicly criticised their transfer restrictions and insistence he "focus on coaching and training" his team while leaving signings to the club's chief executive, Rick Parry.