LONDON, May 15: Arsenal stuck to the script and booked their place in history on Saturday by becoming the first side in more than a century to complete an unbeaten sweep through an entire league campaign.
A 2-1 win over relegated Leicester ensured Arsene Wenger's champions finished the season with 26 wins, 12 draws and not a single defeat - a feat that had been achieved since Preston North End's 'Invincibles' stayed unbeaten through a 22-match campaign in 1888/89.
The day's other big issue was resolved in Newcastle's favour, a 1-1 draw at Liverpool enough to secure fifth spot and a place in the UEFA Cup as rivals Aston Villa slumped to a 2-0 home defeat to Manchester United.
Chelsea marked what was almost certainly Claudio Ranieri's final match in charge with a 1-0 win over Leeds, courtesy of Jesper Gronkjaer's 20th-minute goal.
Leeds escaped the ignominy of finishing the season bottom of the table. That dubious distinction went to Wolves, whose final game in the top flight ended in a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham.
Arsenal's performance at Highbury was far from convincing but that is not what history will record.
Leicester had looked like crashing the party in spectacular fashion after captain Paul Dickov headed them into a first-half lead from a Frank Sinclair cross that German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann badly misjudged.
The goal left Arsenal rattled and they never looked like equalising until Sinclair upended Ashley Cole in the box two minutes after the restart. Thierry Henry slotted the spot-kick low to the right of Ian Walker for his 30th Premiership goal of the season.
That was the cue for normal service to be resumed and Patrick Vieira booked the Gunners' place in history by rounding Walker after a sublime through-ball from the outside of Dennis Bergkamp's right-boot.
Newcastle salvaged something from a miserable season after taking a first half lead at Anfield through Shola Ameobi, who finished well after a strong run and neat pass from Lee Bowyer.
Michael Owen equalised mid-way through the second half after a superb through ball from England team-mate Steven Gerrard but Newcastle held on for the crucial point.
Villa's dreams of a return to Europe were crushed inside ten minutes.
Cristiano Ronaldo put United ahead before Ruud van Nistelrooy raced on to a 40-yard ball from Paul Scholes, rounded Thomas Sorensen and tapped the ball into the net.
United finished the game with nine men after Darren Fletcher and Ronaldo got their marching orders but the red cards came too late for Villa to salvage the point that would have put them into Europe.
Blackburn and Birmingham shared the points at Ewood Park, Stern John's late equaliser cancelling out Andy Cole's first half strike for Blackburn.
Fulham secured their highest-ever Premiership finish - eighth - with a 2-0 win at Bolton, American striker Brian McBride scoring both goals.
Manchester City finally produced a performance worthy of their new stadium as they thrashed Everton 5-1 to leapfrog the Merseysiders and finish the season 17th.
An early double from Paulo Wanchope and a Nicolas Anelka strike put City on track at the break. Kevin Campbell pulled one back for Everton but late goals from Antoine Sibierski and Shaun Wright-Phillips sent City's long-suffering fans off for the summer in good spirits.
Portsmouth also rounded off their season - and a turbulent week - in style with a 5-1 win over Middlesbrough at Fratton Park.
Nigerian striker Ayegbeni Yakubu needed only 31 minutes to complete his hat trick and added a fourth seven minutes from time.
But the biggest cheeers were reserved for manager Harry Redknapp, who had been on the brink of quitting 24 hours earlier after a row with the club's chairman, Milan Mandaric.
Bolo Zenden was Boro's scorer with Teddy Sheringham notching Pompey's fourth in his final game for the club.
Charlton finished the season on a high, goals from Jason Euell and Carlton Cole securing a 2-1 win over Southampton and sixth place. David Prutton scored for the visitors.
Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe got the goals for Tottenham that condemned Wolves to finishing rock bottom.
Results:
Arsenal 2 Leicester City 1
Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 2
Blackburn Rovers 1 Birmingham City 1
Bolton Wanderers 0 Fulham 2
Charlton Athletic 2 Southampton 1
Chelsea 1 Leeds United 0
Liverpool 1 Newcastle United 1
Manchester City 5 Everton 1
Portsmouth 5 Middlesbrough 1
Wolves 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Palace edge Sunderland
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace came from a goal down to in the first leg of their Division One play-off semifinal on Friday to beat Sunderland 3-2.
Sunderland took the lead in the second half through Marcus Stewart from the penalty spot, but Neil Shipperley headed an equaliser.
Palace went ahead when Danny Butterfield's shot was deflected in but Kevin Kyle levelled for the visitors only for Andy Johnson to clinch the winner three minutes from time.
The second leg is on Monday.
In the second semifinal Ipswich Town beat West Ham United 1-0. The second leg is on Tuesday.
The final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is on May 29.
BAD DAY
HAMBURG: It was a bad day for Munich clubs in Saturday's Bundesliga football action, with dethroned champions Bayern Munich losing 3-1 away at Stuttgart and cross-town rivals 1860 Munich moving perilously close to relegation after drawing with Hertha Berlin.
Meanwhile, new champions Werder Bremen showed the effects of a week of partying after they clinched the title a week ago in Munich, losing 6-2 at home to Bayer Leverkusen. Brazilian Franca scored a hat trick for the visitors.
Cross-town rivals 1860 Munich dropped to 17th place after a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Hertha Berlin.
Results:
Hanover 96 0 VfL Wolfsburg 0
Schalke 04 4 Kaiserslautern 1
Borussia Dortmund 3 Borussia M'bach 1
TSV 1860 Munich 1 Hertha Berlin 1
Cologne 4 Hansa Rostock 0
Werder Bremen 2 Bayer Leverkusen 6
VfB Stuttgart 3 Bayern Munich 1
SC Freiburg 0 Hamburg SV 0
Eintracht Frankfurt 3 VfL Bochum 2
-Agencies