Premier League Round Up: United celebrate 19th title, City secure 3rd spot – Video

Resham Ahmed May 23, 2011 0

Premier League Round Up: United celebrate 19th title, City secure 3rd spot – Video

LONDON: Manchester was amid celebrations on final Sunday of the English Premier League 2010-11 season here Sunday as Manchester United lifted the EPL title for a record 19^th time while Manchester City grabbed the third position over Arsenal.

Manchester United. Courtesy: Reuters

Blackpool came close to spoil the party for Manchester United as they were leading by 2-1 at one stage before rallying to 4-2 victory thus recording their 18^th home victory in 19 games; the other game had ended in a draw. The victory took the Red Devils to their record 19^th title as they scored 80 points from their 38 matches, which is the lowest tally for any EPL title winners in the last 10 years.

Birmingham City fan cries. Courtesy: Reuters

A total of 32 goals were scored on the final Sunday hence setting a new record for the number of goals scored in a season since the English Premier League was reduced to 20 teams. As many as 1063 goals were scored during the current season, eclipsing the 1999-2000 tally by three goals.

Sir Alex Ferguson. Courtesy: Reuters

The final Sunday afternoon was filled with dram and tension as Blackpool and Birmingham City were relegated while Wolverhampton Wanderers joined Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers to survive the scare and got another chance to make it big in EPL.

Manchester United. Courtesy: Reuters

The other Manchester team, the Manchester City celebrated their automatic entry into the group stage of the UEFA Champions League by defeating Bolton Wanderers 2-0 as the victory earned them the third spot.

Tottenham Hotspur were also among the celebrating teams as they finished fifth in the EPL after beating Birmingham City by 2-1 to qualify for the Europa League.

Tottenham Hotspur. Courtesy: Getty Images

Manchester City and Chelsea ended with 71 points where Chelsea stood second owing to have a better goal-average. Chelsea didn’t end the EPL season on a high after they were defeated by a 10-man Everton 1-0 where Jermaine Beckford scored the only goal of the match.

The Arsenal’s bad run continued after they had to contend with a 2-2 draw against Fulham to end at the fourth place after scoring only 68 points. The Gunners, who were in the title contention at one stage, could manage just two wins from last 11 matches.

Manchester United. Courtesy: Getty Images

Liverpool, who came roaring towards the end of the season were left to lick their wounds on Sunday when Aston Villa defeated them 1-0 and finished sixth with 58 points.

However, the best drama was at the bottom where the English soccer fans witnessed the closest battle for survival in recent years as it went right to the final whistles to decide who is going to stay and who is going to get relegated.

Wolverhampton Wanderer. Courtesy: Reuters

Blackpool looked good to stay in the EPL after they were leading by 2-1 after 33 minutes against the title winners Manchester United as Charlie Adam and Gary Taylor-Fletcher gave them the advantage at Old Trafford.

However, the excitement took to their nerves and inflicted some awful defending where they literally gifted a goal to Anderson to make it 2-2 before an own goal while Michael Owen scored Red Devils’ final goal of the season which proved last nail in Blackpool’s coffin.

Wigan Athletic. Courtesy: Reuters

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway was disappointed when he told reporters, “After taking the lead, we had started to believe ‘we can do this. You saw the way we played, the chances we created, we’ve got to take those. But United brought on Wayne Rooney, they’re used to winning and we lost out. That aside, we’ve been absolutely outstanding and it’s hard to take.”

Birmingham City became only the second team after Norwich City, in 1985, to get relegated after winning the League Cup.

Roberto Martinez. Courtesy: Reuters

Birmingham Manager Alex McLeish was broken after the result. He said, “That has been the drama of this season — 39 points would normally be safe and I’m devastated for the fans. The quality in the lower half of the table this season has been amazing.”

Wolves were all done at 3-0 and needed two goals to stay in the safe zone over Birmingham and Jamie O’Hara and Stephen Hunt providing the goals which saw them through safely.

Sir Alex Ferguson. Courtesy: Getty Images

Wolves Manager Mick McCarthy told reporters, “I’m not sure my ticker can take it but it’s brilliant. It was a great second-half performance. I know we’ve lost but they’re all winners.”