Liverpool Give Champions Chelsea The Guard Of Honour
Abena Alice|myghanalinks - With the 2015 EPL Championship title safely wrestled from the Manchester stronghold by Chelsea and the jockeying for the remaining top three positions yet to be completely decided, Manchester City took sole possession of the second spot on Sunday with 73 points following a 6-0 drubbing of QPR who badly needed a win to keep the little hope they had left for Premiership survival alive.
Manchester United guaranteed themselves a top four finish following their 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday to take control of the fourth spot as Liverpool's Champions League hope failed to gain traction following their one all tie with Champions Chelsea. The former remained condemned to the fifth spot on 62 points as their inferior goal haul will not help their cause, even if Manchester United loses their last two games. Arsenal remained in fourth on 70 points but will be in action on Monday Night Football against Swansea City.
In the battle for survival things took a dramatic turn on Saturday; Sunderland moved out of the drop zone with a 2-0 win at Everton, Newcastle ended their 8 game losing streak with a one all tie against West Brom but dropped to 17th in the standings - just two points away from safety and hitherto 16th placed Hull City plunged into the relegation zone following their 1 nil defeat at the hands of Burnley FC, with the latter moving from the bottom of the table to the last but one spot on 29 points. Riyad Mahrez scored twice as Leicester City bolstered their survival hopes with a 2-0 win over Southampton - their sixth victory in seven games. And on Sunday, QPR had whatever little survival hopes they had left shredded to pieces as the numbers and mathematical game turned completely against them following their 6-0 trouncing at the hands of Manchester City.
Burnley FC is hanging on to paper shreds for survival as it looks more than likely that they will be playing Championship football next season and Hull City, Newcastle United, Sunderland and Leicester City remain far from safe with just two games to go.
And on MNF Bafetimbi Gomis’ late header grabbed Swansea an unlikely 1-0 victory at Arsenal to move just one point behind Southampton in the race for the Europa League.
Everton 0 - 2 Sunderland
Sunderland moved out of the drop zone with a 2-0 win at Everton as their fight for survival took a positive turn.
Danny Graham scored his first goal for the club, inadvertently turning home a Jordi Gomez strike on 54 minutes at Goodison Park, and Jermain Defoe added a late second to catapult the visitors out of the relegation zone and into 16th place.
Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has now taken 10 points from a possible 18 since taking over from Gus Poyet at the end of March and his side has 36 points in total, with three fixtures remaining against Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Newcastle 1 - 1 West Bromwich
Newcastle dropped to 17th on the table despite ending their eight-game losing streak with a 1-1 draw against West Brom.
Ayoze Perez scored Newcastle's equalising goal in the 41st minute after Victor Anichebe had headed West Brom in front just past the half hour.
The home side pushed hard for a winner in the second half but lacked any real cutting edge as Tony Pulis' men held on and almost snatched a winner themselves through Chris Brunt's late effort.
For a game of such importance it was a rather low-key opening to the first half with neither side really asserting themselves.
Crystal Palace 1 - 2 Manchester United
Manchester United ended a run of three consecutive defeats and put themselves on the brink of Champions League qualification with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday Night Football.
Marouane Fellaini capitalised on a mistake from Julian Speroni to score the winner 12 minutes from full-time after Jason Puncheon had cancelled out Juan Mata’s first-half penalty with a well-executed free-kick.
The victory moved United six points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool and guaranteed them a place in the top four.
Aston Villa 1 - 0 West Ham
Tom Cleverley’s first-half goal eased Aston Villa's relegation fears after a vital 1-0 win over West Ham at Villa Park.
Cleverley’s close-range finish just after the half-hour mark thanks to fine play by Jack Grealish gave Villa the three points, as the hosts came through a nervy second half that lacked chances for both sides.
The result leaves Villa four points above the drop zone with two games remaining, and marked their first back-to-back home wins of the season.
Leicester City 2 - 0 Southampton
A Riyad Mahrez double against Southampton bolstered Leicester City’s survival hopes - their sixth victory in seven games.
Mahrez scored after just seven minutes with a low shot from the edge of the box and added a second 12 minutes later after an error by Saints goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
The three points were especially important after Sunderland's win at Everton earlier in the day had left Nigel Pearson's team outside of the relegation zone on goal difference alone.
Mahrez, who came close to completing a hat-trick in the second half, will get the plaudits but this was a victory built on hard work and intensity by the entire Leicester side and in particular their forwards Jamie Vardy and Leonardo Ulloa.
Stoke City 3 - 0 Tottenham
Stoke ended 10-man Tottenham’s Champions League hopes with a 3-0 win at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Charlie Adam’s header put the hosts ahead before Steven N’Zonzi capitalised on a defensive mix-up to give Stoke a two-goal lead at the break.
Vlad Chiriches was then dismissed for a second yellow card and Mame Biram Diouf wrapped up the result late on.
Jack Butland turned Marc Muniesa’s header on to the crossbar, while Adam was denied a second goal after a good save by Hugo Lloris and Jonathan Walters missed a glorious chance.
Stoke have now matched their final points tally of 50 from last season with two games to spare, while Spurs are seven points behind fourth place with only two of their fixtures remaining.
Hull city 0 - 1 Burnley FC
Burnley will be playing Championship football next season, despite winning 1-0 at Hull thanks to a second-half goal from Danny Ings.
Results elsewhere sealed Burnley's fate and the afternoon’s action may also have terrible consequences for Hull, who now find themselves two points from safety, with a pair of tough fixtures left to play.
The hosts could have few complaints after a somewhat insipid display considering the magnitude of the occasion, although they will count themselves unfortunate that the luckless Robbie Brady twice hit the bar with fine free-kicks.
Manchester City 6 - 0 QPR
QPR have been relegated from the Premier League after Sergio Aguero's hat-trick consigned them to a 6-0 defeat at Manchester City.
The R's needed a win to stand a chance of staying up, but were behind after just four minutes as Aguero finished from eight yards.
Aleksandar Kolarov’s trademark free-kick put City two up after 32 minutes, before Aguero added a second from 15 yards and completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after the break.
James Milner hit the fifth from close range and David Silva rounded off the win three minutes from time to confirm City's top-four finish, as QPR taste relegation for the second time in three seasons.
Chelsea 1 - 1 Liverpool
A 1-1 draw for Liverpool at Chelsea all-but ended their hopes of finishing in the top four this season.
John Terry headed the hosts in front early on, before Steven Gerrard equalised shortly before half time.
The visitors enjoyed more of the possession in the second half and Philippe Coutinho went close as he fired wide, but Liverpool couldn't find the winner they needed to close the gap on Manchester United in fourth.The result means Jose Mourinho continues his unbeaten record against Liverpool, and leaves Brendan Rodgers’ men six points off fourth place with two games left, effectively ending their Champions League hopes owing to their inferior goal difference compared to United.
Monday Night Football
Arsenal 0 - 1 Swansea City
Bafetimbi Gomis’ late header grabbed Swansea an unlikely 1-0 victory at Arsenal to move just one point behind Southampton in the race for the Europa League.
Arsene Wenger is looking to lead his side to their highest Premier League finish in 10 years but their chances were dealt a blow as Gomis' 85th-minute header crossed the line, despite David Ospina's attempt to claw it away.
Arsenal protested the ball had not gone in but referee Kevin Friend, aided by goal-line technology, was in no doubt as the goal stood to send Swansea to victory.
Garry Monk’s side, who are now well in with a chance of Europa League qualification with two games remaining, also had former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski to thank for their victory as he made a string of excellent saves in the second half.
Match reports from skysports, bbc sports and eurosports were used in this compilation
