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Monday, May 14, 2012

BPL: Man City claims League in nail-biting finale

Chelsea 2 - 1 Blackburn Rovers
Everton 3 - 1 Newcastle United
Manchester City 3 - 2 Queens Park Rangers
Norwich City 2 - 0 Aston Villa
Stoke City 2 - 2 Bolton Wanderers
Sunderland 0 - 1 Manchester United
Swansea City 1 - 0 Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur 2 - 0 Fulham
West Bromwich Albion 2 - 3 Arsenal
Wigan Athletic 3 - 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

City win title on day of high drama in BPL
Manchester City became the Premier League champions after one of the most sensational days of top-flight football ever seen in England.

Roberto Mancini's men scored twice in stoppage-time to clinch their first league title since 1968 in the most dramatic way possible, with City snatching victory from the jaws of what seemed certain to become the most disastrous defeat imaginable.

Second-half goals from Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie, either side of a ridiculous Joey Barton red card, seemed to have turned the entire season on its head.

But with the game entering five minutes of stoppage time, City produced a finish equally as memorable as that of Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final.

That United should be denied just made the joy so much sweeter, as first Edin Dzeko nodded the Blues level before Sergio Aguero collected Mario Balotelli's return pass and drove home the goal that crowned City champions.

Bolton's failure to beat Stoke meant QPR survived anyway, which was the very least their defiant defending deserved in a truly astonishing game. 

United win over Sunderland in vain
Manchester United led by a single goal, courtesy of Rooney's close-range 20th-minute header from full-back Phil Jones' cross.

The England striker might have claimed a hat-trick inside 14 minutes, but he saw his free-kick come back off the crossbar on the half-hour and then uncharacteristically miskicked with the goal at his mercy four minutes later when Ashley Young's wayward shot arrived perfectly for him.

It would have been 2-0 with 59 minutes gone had Craig Gardner not thrown himself into the path of Young's volley from Valencia's teasing cross.

United were again unfortunate not to increase their lead with 14 minutes regaining when Scholes smashed a volley against the foot of the post and Mignolet recovered superbly to tip Giggs' follow-up over the bar.

But as the time ebbed away, Rooney clipped the outside of the post with a last-minute free-kick and the partying was just about to start when the worst possible news arrived for those of a red persuasion.

Arsenal edge Baggies; ensure UCL football
Albion had netted through Shane Long and Graham Dorrans after Benayoun's opener, but the horror show from Fulop, who replaced the injured Ben Foster, meant it was a losing end to new England head coach Roy Hodgson's reign.

Wenger will take immense satisfaction from his side's achievement after some supporters had called for him to be sacked earlier in the campaign.

It will also give him a stronger hand to play in attempting to keep hold of leading scorer and skipper Robin van Persie.

Albion will now look to find a successor for Hodgson and attempt to build on a second successive mid-table finish.

Bolton suffer final-day relegation pain
It looked like things were going Bolton's way at the end of the first half when Mark Davies and Kevin Davies both scored fortuitous goals after Walters had given Stoke the lead in controversial circumstances, but it was not to be.

Bolton piled forward in a desperate attempt to find another goal, and Ream came close with a header from Petrov's corner that was gratefully grasped by Sorensen, but in the end there was no way back.

POS LP CLUB P W D L GF GA GD PTS
1 (1) Manchester City 38 28 5 5 93 29 64 89
2 (2) Manchester United 38 28 5 5 89 33 56 89
3 (3) Arsenal 38 21 7 10 74 49 25 70
4 (4) Tottenham Hotspur 38 20 9 9 66 41 25 69
5 (5) Newcastle United 38 19 8 11 56 51 5 65
6 (6) Chelsea 38 18 10 10 65 46 19 64
7 (7) Everton 38 15 11 12 50 40 10 56
8 (8) Liverpool 38 14 10 14 47 40 7 52
9 (9) Fulham 38 14 10 14 48 51 -3 52
10 (10) West Bromwich Albion 38 13 8 17 45 52 -7 47
11 (12) Swansea City 38 12 11 15 44 51 -7 47
12 (13) Norwich City 38 12 11 15 52 66 -14 47
13 (11) Sunderland 38 11 12 15 45 46 -1 45
14 (14) Stoke City 38 11 12 15 36 53 -17 45
15 (15) Wigan Athletic 38 11 10 17 42 62 -20 43
16 (16) Aston Villa 38 7 17 14 37 53 -16 38
17 (17) Queens Park Rangers 38 10 7 21 43 66 -23 37
18 (18) Bolton Wanderers 38 10 6 22 46 77 -31 36
19 (19) Blackburn Rovers 38 8 7 23 48 78 -30 31
20 (20) Wolverhampton Wanderers 38 5 10 23 40 82 -42 25
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