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| May 17, 2005 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1426 |
Southampton relegated after 27 years in top flight
LONDON, May 16: West Bromwich Albion made a slice of Premier League history as they survived and Southampton, Norwich City and Crystal Palace were relegated in a dramatic finale on Sunday. While champions Chelsea settled for a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United, West Brom’s survival and Palace’s relegation were sealed in the last eight minutes of a nine-month season.
West Brom reached 34 points and safety with a 2-0 home win over Portsmouth, becoming the first club to avoid relegation after being bottom at Christmas since the Premier League started in 1992-93.
Palace missed out only because they conceded a goal in the 82nd minute in a 2-2 draw at Charlton Athletic.
Palace’s goal difference on 33 points kept them ahead of Norwich, who were crushed 6-0 at Fulham and Southampton’s 27-year stay in the top flight ended on 32 points and a 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United.
Middlesbrough pipped Manchester City to the final UEFA Cup slot after holding Stuart Pearce’s men to a 1-1 draw. City’s Robbie Fowler missed a stoppage-time penalty which allowed Boro to join Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers in Europe.
Chelsea finished the season with a Premier League record 95 points, 12 clear of Arsenal who went down 2-1 at Birmingham City following a 90th minute winner from Emile Heskey.
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard converted a penalty two minutes after a 33rd minute own goal by team mate Geremi put Newcastle in front.
Geremi’s goal ended Chelsea’s hopes of setting an all-time defensive record as their 15 conceded matched Preston North End’s in the 22-match inaugural Football League season in 1888-89.
It was enough, though, for the modern era — bettering the 16 conceded by Liverpool in 1978-79.
United and Everton, who lost 3-2 to Bolton, will go through to the final qualifying round for the Champions League.
Before then, United will play Arsenal in Saturday’s FA Cup final while Liverpool, who beat Aston Villa 2-1 with two goals from Djibril Cisse, meet AC Milan in the Champions League final.
The happiest man on Sunday was almost certainly West Brom boss Bryan Robson, who was appointed in November and managed to keep them up after starting the day bottom of the table.
“Things have turned out great for us, we couldn’t have wished for anything better,” Robson told Sky Sports News.
Substitute Geoff Horsfield and Kieran Richardson got the goals in the second half, but their survival equally down to Jon Fortune’s strike for Charlton at The Valley.
Andy Johnson’s 21st goal of the season, a 71st minute penalty, had given Palace a 2-1 lead in the southeast London derby that would have been taken them to 35 points before the late equaliser.
Despite the final scoreline, Norwich are entitled to feel unlucky on the day.
They had a goal disallowed and two penalty appeals turned down before Pape Bouba Diop scored Fulham’s killer second in the 35th minute after Brian McBride had given them an early lead.
Southampton’s controversial hiring of former Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp in December failed to save the south coast club.
They took a 10th minute lead through a John O’Shea own goal but were pegged back by Darren Fletcher’s header on 19 minutes and beaten by a second-half strike by Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Redknapp said: “I took a big challenge on but unfortunately I just couldn’t pull it off.”
Results on Sunday:
Birmingham City 2 Arsenal 1
Bolton Wanderers 3 Everton 2
Charlton Athletic 2 Crystal Palace 2
Fulham 6 Norwich City 0
Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 1
Manchester City 1 Middlesbrough 1
Newcastle United 1 Chelsea 1
Southampton 1 Manchester United 2
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Blackburn Rovers 0
West Bromwich Albion 2 Portsmouth 0
Final standings
(Tabulated under played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Chelsea 38 29 8 1 72 15 95
Arsenal 38 25 8 5 87 36 83
Manchester Utd 38 22 11 5 58 26 77
Everton 38 18 7 13 45 46 61
Liverpool 38 17 7 14 52 41 58
B. Wanderers 38 16 10 12 49 44 58
Middlesbrough 38 14 13 11 53 46 55
Manchester City 38 13 13 12 47 39 52
T. Hotspur 38 14 10 14 47 41 52
Aston Villa 38 12 11 15 45 52 47
Charlton Athletic 38 12 10 16 42 58 46
Birmingham City 38 11 12 15 40 46 45
Fulham 38 12 8 18 52 60 44
Newcastle Utd 38 10 14 14 47 57 44
B’burn Rovers 38 9 15 14 32 43 42
Portsmouth 38 10 9 19 43 59 39
West Bromwich 38 6 16 16 36 61 34
Crystal Palace 38 7 12 19 41 62 33
Norwich City 38 7 12 19 42 77 33
Southampton 38 6 14 18 45 66 32
—Reuters
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