Blackpool and Birmingham relegated, Man City take third

(Reuters) - Blackpool and Birmingham City were relegated and Manchester City took third place on a dramatic final day of the Premier League season on Sunday.

Blackpool briefly led 2-1 at Manchester United but lost 4-2 to the champions to go down after one season. Birmingham were beaten 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur to complete a bitter end to a season that had looked so good when they shocked Arsenal to win the League Cup.

Wolverhampton Wanderers survived by coming from 3-0 down to lose 3-2 to Blackburn Rovers, a defeat that was celebrated as if they had won the league and also secured Blackburn’s safety. Wigan Athletic spent most of the afternoon in the drop zone before a late goal secured a 1-0 win at Stoke City and dragged them to safety.

Manchester City beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 away to clinch third place and go straight into the group stage of the Champions League. Arsenal drew 2-2 at Fulham to finish fourth and face a potentially awkward playoff round in Europe’s premier competition. Spurs took fifth spot and a place in the Europa League after Liverpool lost 1-0 at Aston Villa.

United’s victory made it 18 wins and a draw from 19 home games and they finished the season that brought their record 19th title on 80 points.

Chelsea were second on 71 after losing to 10-man Everton, for whom Jermaine Beckford scored a superb goal after a length of the pitch run.

Man City were third, also on 71, and after winning the FA Cup last week they can now look forward to a first taste of Champions League football.

Arsenal finished fourth on 68 after a poor end to the season that brought only two wins from 11 matches.

Tottenham’s victory kept them safely in fifth on 62 points, four ahead of Liverpool. West Ham, beaten 3-0 at home by Sunderland, finished bottom on 33. Blackpool were second-last on 39 with Birmingham also on 39. Wolves escaped on 40 points, with Wigan on 42 and Blackburn on 43.

The day’s tally of 32 goals set a record for the number scored in a season since the league became a 20-team competition, the total of 1,063 topping the 1999-2000 tally by three.

English Premier League top scorers

May 22 (Reuters) - English Premier League top scorers on Sunday

20 Carlos Tevez (Manchester City)

Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United)

18 Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

17 Darren Bent (Aston Villa)

15 Peter Odemwingie (West Bromwich Albion)

13 DJ Campbell (Blackpool)

Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Andy Carroll (Liverpool)

Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)

Javier Hernandez (Manchester United)

Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur)

12 Charlie Adam (Blackpool)

Clint Dempsey (Fulham)

Kevin Nolan (Newcastle United)

11 Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

10 Samir Nasri (Arsenal)

Johan Elmander (Bolton Wanderers)

Salomon Kalou (Chelsea)

Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Fernando Torres (Chelsea)

Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool)

Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland)

Steven Fletcher (Wolverhampton Wanderers)