The city of Manchester is officially under blue control after Sergio
Aguero incredibly helped Manchester City come from 2-1 down in
injury-time to end their 44-year wait for the tag of 'English champions'
on Sunday.
PA PhotosManchester City players celebrate winning the Premier League
After
the most phenomenal climax to a Premier League season, there was cause
for double celebration at the Etihad Stadium as City lifted their first
top-flight title since 1968, while QPR survived relegation courtesy of
Bolton's draw at Stoke. The Champions League places go to Arsenal and
Tottenham, for now at least in the case of Spurs, after what was a
compelling final day of Premier League action.
Manchester City
have been, without question, the best team in England this season,
scoring more goals and conceding fewer than any other side. They
required three points at home to
QPR in order to witness Vincent
Kompany lifting the Premier League trophy, but it needed a quite
incredible injury-time fightback as Edin Dzeko and then Aguero scored in
a dramatic
3-2 victory.
Roberto
Mancini said it would be his "greatest achievement" if he was able to
wrest the league title away from United, and after a season when he has
had to deal with severe hindrances in Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli,
the Italian's name rightly echoed around fortress Etihad - where no
visitor has won a league game all season.
It was absolute one-way
traffic at Eastlands as QPR barely got out of their own half, but after
news of a Wayne Rooney goal at Sunderland filtered into the ground City
suffered a nervy period when the title was slipping away. That
agonising spell appeared to have been brought to an end by Pablo
Zabaleta, thanks to the soft hands of Paddy Kenny, but a shocking error
from Joleon Lescott brought back City's pain.
Seemingly in no
danger, Lescott opted to blindly flick the ball back to Joe Hart,
succeeding only in playing Djibril Cisse clean through for a powerfully
volleyed equaliser. City's cause was aided by former player Joey Barton,
who really should have been shown three red cards after he elbowed
Carlos Tevez, for which he was sent off, then before he left the pitch
he kicked out at Sergio Aguero and aimed a headbutt at Kompany.
With
half an hour still to play, a winning City goal surely had to arrive,
but instead it was Jamie Mackie who stole in at the back post to send
QPR - and United - into raptures. City threw everything at Rangers, but
as the clock ticked into injury-time the score remained 2-1.
Suddenly
there was hope when Dzeko managed to bundle home for 2-2 with less than
four minutes of added still to play. And, with Mancini a ball of
anguish on the sidelines, it was Aguero who broke into the box in the
94th minute to score the most dramatic title-winning goal in Premier
League history.
Manchester United started the day knowing victory at
Sunderland likely wouldn't be enough to overhaul City, and so it proved despite their
1-0 victory
at the Stadium of Light. Back in October Sir Alex Ferguson, following
City's 6-1 win at Old Trafford, prophesied that "you never know when
goal difference will count", and that one game has ultimately decided
the title.
As United's game came to a conclusion, the title was
staying at Old Trafford after Wayne Rooney netted the only goal of the
game for the Red Devils. A simple strike for the England man, he nodded
home unmarked at the back post from a right-wing delivery, later hitting
the bar as Sunderland failed to cope with United's top scorer.
However,
as United's players stayed on the field to wait for news of City's
result, the groans from the travelling faithful told Ryan Giggs and Co
all they needed to know as a miraculous title triumph was snatched from
their grasp.
QPR's defeat at City meant
Bolton could have stayed up, had they won their final game at
Stoke's Britannia Stadium. However, Owen Coyle will have to prepare his men for life in the Championship next season after they drew
2-2, leaving them one point adrift of safety.
Stoke
were by the far better team in the early stages, although when their
13th-minute opener arrived it was highly controversial. Jonathan Walters
was the man to net, but his challenge on Adam Bogdan had Bolton
screaming for a free-kick.
Bolton gave themselves hope when Mark
Davies equalised five minutes before the break, and then an unbelievable
error by Thomas Sorensen saw them lead 2-1 at half-time. Kevin Davies
was the man with the shot, Sorensen somehow allowing the ball through
his hands at the near post. For a while Bolton's lead, coupled
with QPR's result at City, meant the Trotters were staying up, but
Walters netted a penalty as everything began to go wrong towards the
full-time whistle.
Arsenal guaranteed themselves Champions
League football next season, and potentially secured the future
services of skipper Robin van Persie, with a
3-2 victory over
West Brom
at the Hawthorns. With Chelsea capable of snatching the fourth
Champions League qualifying spot if they beat Bayern Munich in next
week's final, it was imperative that Arsenal finished third, which they
managed thanks to goals from Yossi Benayoun, Andre Santos and Laurent
Koscielny.
The Gunners needed all of four minutes to break the deadlock at the
Hawthorns, and the goal came from Chelsea loanee Benayoun, although it
owed much to an inexplicable Marton Fulop fumble as the Israeli's
through-ball somehow found its way into the net. However, the
lead lasted only six minutes as an awful offside decision allowed the
Baggies to level. Shane Long was two yards in front of the last defender
when he latched onto the ball, stroking past Wojciech Szczesny for new
England boss Roy Hodgson. Worse was to come too as Arsenal conceded
again inside the opening quarter of an hour, Graham Dorrans putting
Wenger's side in real danger at 2-1. Arsenal were back level by
half-time though, Andre Santos lashing a 22-yard screamer beyond Fulop
as the Gunners showed plenty of character in the fight for third. They
were helped enormously by Fulop, who committed yet another error as
Koscielny put Arsenal back in front.
Tottenham are the team facing a nervy 90 minutes next week after their
2-0 win over
Fulham was
only enough to secure fourth in the table - disappointingly a point
behind Arsenal. A Chelsea defeat to Bayern would send Spurs into the
Champions League next year but victory for the Blues would leave Harry
Redknapp's men contemplating life in the Europa League.
Ultimately
Spurs' fate was taken out of their own hands by Arsenal's win at the
Hawthorns. Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe ensured
Redknapp's men remain in contention for a place at Europe's top table. It
took just two minutes for Spurs to strike at White Hart Lane, Adebayor
exchanging a one-two with Luka Modric to settle early nerves. They were
then grateful to veteran keeper Brad Friedel, who produced two fine
saves to deny Fulham an equaliser. Jermain Defoe's strike just after the
hour settled the contest.
Newcastle needed either Arsenal
or Tottenham to drop points in order to have a chance of a top-four
finish, after what has been a magnificent season under Manager of the
Year Alan Pardew. In the end, results elsewhere mattered little as the
Magpies were beaten
3-1 by
Everton, who finish above Liverpool in the table. Toffees
goalkeeper Tim Howard was a spectator in the opening 15 minutes as
Newcastle offered little, and the visitors deservedly fell behind when
Steven Pienaar found the net with the help of a deflection off Mike
Williamson. The lead was quickly doubled inside half an hour as January
signing Nikica Jelavic added yet another to his Everton account, before
Johnny Heitinga netted a third. Tim Cahill was sent off after the final
whistle after a scuffle with Newcastle players and he will now miss the
first three games of next season.
Liverpool avoided the prospect of finishing outside the top eight
in the top flight for the first time since they were promoted back into
the top flight in 1962, although it was a hurdle they cleared in little
style, losing
1-0 at
Swansea.
The result means Liverpool finish below Everton, while Swansea finish a
commendable 11th in their first Premier League campaign. It is second
time Liverpool have finished eighth since their first season back in the
top flight in 1962-63.
Aston Villa's Premier League safety was officially confirmed despite suffering a
2-0 defeat at
Norwich.
A miracle set of results could still have seen Villa relegated on the
final day, but they can now plan for next season under Alex McLeish. Grant
Holt did his chances of an England call-up for Euro 2012 no harm with
the opener on eight minutes, with Simeon Jackson doubling Norwich's
advantage midway through the first half as they finish 12th. Elsewhere,
Chelsea can head to Germany for the Champions League final in good spirits after they beat relegated
Blackburn 2-1.
Roberto Di Matteo rested the entire XI that is expected to play next
week, but the Blues still had too much thanks to goals from John Terry
and Raul Meireles, with Yakubu grabbing Rovers' consolation.
And Roberto Martinez, linked by Sunday's newspapers to Liverpool, signed off on another successful season for
Wigan with a
3-2 win against
Wolves.
Matthew Jarvis gave new boss Stale Solbakken something to shout about
in the ninth minute, but they were quickly pegged back by Franco Di
Santo and Emmerson Boyce(2) as Wigan turned the tables, before Steven
Fletcher made things interesting at the death.
Source: ESPN Soccernet 13/5/2012
