LONDON: Manchester United’s final game of the Premier League season against Bournemouth on Sunday was abandoned following a security alert at Old Trafford, as Arsenal snatched second place in the table from rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

What should have been a celebratory last weekend of the league season around the country was overshadowed as bomb disposal experts were called to carry out a controlled explosion on a suspicious package at Old Trafford.

The Stretford End and Sir Alex Ferguson Stand were evacuated as the match was called off 20 minutes before the scheduled 1400 GMT kick-off in Manchester, with United later confirming a security alert caused the abrupt cancellation at the 75,600-capacity stadium.

“Due to the discovery of a suspect package in the North-West Quadrant of the ground, the match with Bournemouth has been abandoned today on police advice,” a United spokesman said in a statement.

By 3.15pm local time the remaining parts of Old Trafford were evacuated and shortly before 4pm an Army bomb disposal unit van was seen arriving at the stadium to carry out a controlled explosion.

The Premier League said the match would be rearranged for “as soon as practically possible”, although with United due to face Crystal Palace in next Saturday’s FA Cup final and Euro 2016 warm-up fixtures scheduled for the following week there is little room for manoeuvre.

“When it comes to matters of security it is obviously right that Manchester United and the Premier League place the safety of supporters and employees foremost,” a Premier League statement read.

Despite the worrying scenes at Old Trafford, the other nine matches went ahead as planned.

Completing a bad day for United, Manchester City drew 1-1 at Swansea City to effectively guarantee fourth place and Champions League qualification at the expense of their local rivals, who are three points behind them with a goal difference of only +12 compared to +30 for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.

City took the lead as Kelechi Iheanacho slotted home in the fifth minute after Sergio Aguero’s shot was pushed into the young Nigeria striker’s path.

Swansea equalised in first-half stoppage time through Andre Ayew, whose free-kick deflected in off City midfielder Fernando, but the visitors held on to ensure Pellegrini departed on a high, with Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola to replace him in the close-season.

“I wanted to win the Premier League, but the atmosphere from February when the club announced the new manager was maybe not the best,” Pellegrini said.

“The only option was to get to the Champions League for next year.”

Capping a frustrating climax to the season for Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino’s team came third as their 5-1 humiliation at relegated Newcastle United, combined with Arsenal’s 4-0 win over bottom club Aston Villa, saw the Gunners leapfrog their north London rivals to finish second.

After losing the title to Leicester City, Tottenham have also wasted a chance to finish above Arsenal for the first time since 1994-95.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksandar Mitrovic put the hosts 2-0 up at halftime before Erik Lamela pulled one back.

Mitrovic was shown a straight red card for a dangerous foul but Wijnaldum scored his second from the penalty spot and Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat completed the scoring at St James’ Park.

“I would like to apologise to our fans. It’s my worst day as a manager. We were on holiday. It’s unbelievable,” Pochettino said.

Arsenal gleefully seized on Tottenham’s woes with an Olivier Giroud-inspired demolition of Villa at the Emirates Stadium.

France striker Giroud bagged a hat-trick, with the goals coming in the fifth, 78th minute and 80th minutes before an own goal by Villa ‘keeper Mark Bunn.

At Stamford Bridge, Leicester drew 1-1 at Chelsea to end the campaign 10 points ahead of the chasing pack — another staggering achievement in a remarkable season for Claudio Ranieri’s team.

Cesc Fabregas’ second-half penalty for Chelsea looked set to condemn Leicester to only their fourth defeat of the season but Danny Drinkwater rescued a point for the champions with a stunning long-distance strike.

Everton looked revitalised by the sacking of much-maligned manager Roberto Martinez as they defeated relegated Norwich City 3-0 at Goodison Park thanks to goals from James McCarthy, Leighton Baines with a penalty and Kevin Mirallas.

Southampton booked a Europa League place with a 4-1 thrashing of Crystal Palace at St Mary’s, with the goals coming from Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle, Ryan Bertrand and Steven Davis.

Seventh-placed West Ham United were beaten 2-1 at Stoke City, which means they need sixth-placed United to defeat Palace in the Cup final to qualify for the Europa League.

Liverpool warmed up for Wednesday’s Europa League final against Sevilla in Basel with a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion.

Watford drew 2-2 with Sunderland in the last match for departing Hornets boss Quique Sanchez Flores.

Standings

(Tabulated under, played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Leicester City 38 23 12 3 68 36 81

Arsenal 38 20 11 7 65 36 71

Tottenham Hotspur 38 19 13 6 69 35 70

Manchester City 38 19 9 10 71 41 66

Southampton 38 18 9 11 59 41 63

Manchester United 37 18 9 10 46 34 63

West Ham United 38 16 14 8 65 51 62

Liverpool 38 16 12 10 63 50 60

Stoke City 38 14 9 15 41 55 51

Chelsea 38 12 14 12 59 53 50

Everton 38 11 14 13 59 55 47

Swansea City 38 12 11 15 42 52 47

Watford 38 12 9 17 40 50 45

West Bromwich Albion 38 10 13 15 34 48 43

Crystal Palace 38 11 9 18 39 51 42

AFC Bournemouth 37 11 9 17 44 64 42

Sunderland 38 9 12 17 48 62 39

Newcastle United 38 9 10 19 44 65 37

Norwich City 38 9 7 22 39 67 34

Aston Villa 38 3 8 27 27 76 17

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2016