Birmingham City & Blackpool relegated from Premier League as Wigan Athletic escape with win at Stoke

Barry Ferguson, Birmingham City

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Birmingham and Blackpool follow West Ham to the Championship after being defeated by Tottenham and champions Manchester United to stay in the Premier League.

Blackpool were set to avoid the drop after Adam cancelled out Park’s opener at Old Trafford but after Taylor-Fletcher scored a second goal, Manchester United netted two more to crush the Tangerines hopes of staying in the Premier League.

Wolves’ fate was decided in the first half of their tie with Blackburn thanks to strikes from Roberts, Emerton and Hoilett but both O’Hara’s and Hunt’s goals were not enough for a substantial comeback.

Wigan went back into the driver’s seat 12 minutes before the final whistle as Rodallega ended the 78 minutes goalless draw while Sunderland’s Zenden, Malbranque and Riveros left a bitter taste in Kevin Keen’s mouth as West Ham dropped to the Championship on a 2-0 defeat.

Manchester City secured third place after Lescott and Dzeko crushed Bolton’s hopes of ending the season higher up on the Premier League table.

Newcastle and West Brom shared a point  after the Magpies lead the game in the first half with goals from Taylor and Lovenkrands, and Olsson’s own goal in the first minutes of the second half, but  Tchoyi hat-trick including a goal at the 90th minute was enough for the game to end  with 3-3 on the counter.

Fulham ended their season on a 2-1 derby win against Arsenal who are left in fourth place.  Sidwell opened the score at the 26th minute but van Persie retaliated three minutes later to bring the teams at par.  Zamora found the back of the net just before the hour.

However, Gera was sent off at the 75 minute and the Cottagers stood up to their North London opponents before Theo Walcott scored at the last minute to claim a point for Arsenal to stay fourth.

Pavlyuchenko’s early second half goal gave Tottenham the lead well into the second half until Gardner added his name to the goalscorers’ sheet 11 minutes before the final whistle.

Liverpool’s below par performance awarded Aston Villa a well-deserved home win in an enthralling match where Villa dominated the Reds.  Downing found the back of the net 33
minutes into the game but Suarez and Meireles failed to shoot on target.

Ten-men Everton snatched three points from Chelsea after Coleman was sent off at the 53rd minute and Beckford score at the 75 while Torres was unable to get anything but a yellow card at the final whistle.