Leicester was relegated from the Premier League on Saturday, and champion Arsenal remained unbeaten in 35 matches with three more to complete a landmark season.
Leicester drew 2-2 at Charlton and Arsenal drew 0-0 at Highbury against Birmingham City.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Wolves are also going down despite a 2-1 victory at home over Everton. Only a mathematical formality keeps it from being official. Both Leicester and Wolves were doomed when Manchester City won 1-0 over Newcastle.
It's been a short stay in the Premier League for two sides who were promoted last season from the first division.
Leicester has 30 points topped by Wolves with 32 and Leeds with 32. Man City improved to 38. Leeds would be relegated if it loses today against Bolton.
Though Wolves could match Man City's point total by winning its last two games, the deciding factor if teams are tied on points is goal difference.
Wolves are on minus-37. Leicester has a goal difference of minus-18, Leeds is minus-35 and Manchester City is minus-2.
"There will be an inquest as there was last year when we went up, as there was the year before when we didn't go up," Wolves manager Dave Jones said.
"Football kicks you in the teeth."
"We'll go out fighting and that's the most important thing because we have to come back next season."
Leicester manager Micky Adams said he thought most of his top players would be sold.
"I fear for the club and the rape and pillage of our better players, because that's what will happen," he said.
Adams said sexual assault charges brought against three of his players in March while training in Spain -- Keith Gillespie, Frank Sinclair and Paul Dickov -- hurt the club's chances. The three spent a week in a Spanish jail before being released.
"I think in my heart of hearts that had a big bearing on it," Adams said.
"The La Manga [Spain] saga didn't help us. It could have been avoided ... For certain individuals it was a traumatic time."
Chelsea's 4-0 win at Southampton, coupled with Man United's 1-0 loss against Blackburn, strengthened the Blues' grip on second over the Reds. The second-place team gets automatic qualification to the Champions League. The third- and fourth-place teams must qualify.
Man United manager Alex Ferguson conceded second to Chelsea. The two clubs meet May 8 at Old Trafford.
"With two games to go and four points behind, it's very difficult now," Ferguson said. "Chelsea are in a fine position."
At the top of the table: Arsenal (83), Chelsea (75), Manchester United (71), Liverpool (53), Newcastle (53), Aston Villa (52), Fulham (49), Charlton (49), and Birmingham City (49).
In Saturday's other match, Portsmouth and Fulham drew 1-1.
Arsenal remained unbeaten in 35 league games, although Saturday's scoreless draw at home against Birmingham City had little of the breathtaking play that brought the Gunners the title this season.
City, hoping for a place next season in Europe, used tight organization and a damp pitch to slow the Gunners at their Highbury home.
Arsenal, which clinched its third title in six seasons last weekend, played one of its strongest sides with Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp up front and Jose Antonio Reyes playing off those two.
The Gunners never threatened City's goal with 'keeper Ian Bennett having one of the easiest day's of the season. The Gunners failed to record a shot on goal.
"We will take every game as it comes but Birmingham made it difficult for us," defender Sol Campbell said.
"They didn't give us any space out there."
Hoping to remain unbeaten all season, the Gunners play Tuesday at Portsmouth and are at Fulham on May 9. The season ends May 15 with the Gunners at home at Highbury against Leicester.
SPANISH LEAGUE
Real Madrid's hopes of retaining its Spanish league title took a nose-dive when it lost 2-0 to Deportivo de La Coruna in a 35th-round match.
Madrid, which had Zinedine Zidane ejected before the interval, fell to goals by striker Diego Tristan and left back Joan Capdevila to remain in second place in the standings.
Leader Valencia will take a four-point lead if it beats Real Betis at home today and, with only three more rounds remaining, would leave Madrid in serious danger of ending the season without a trophy.
Valencia has 71 points from 34 games, while Madrid has 70 from 35. FC Barcelona has 66 points, one more than Deportivo.
"It's going to be really difficult. But the league's not over. We're still hopeful," Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz said. "We need to stay positive. We're going to keep fighting until the final minute."
Madrid's star-studded team, widely believed to be the best in the world at the start of the season, has lost four of its seven league matches since early March.
Over the same period, it was eliminated from the Champions League quarterfinals by Monaco and lost the Copa del Rey final to underdog Zaragoza.
Deportivo saved several first-team players for Tuesday's second leg of its Champions League semifinal with FC Porto but still managed to preserve its 12-year unbeaten home record in its matches with Madrid.
However, Deportivo's modified team never dominated Madrid, which hit the woodwork three times in the first half through Esteban Cambiasso, Ronaldo and Raul Gonzalez.
"The ball just didn't want to go in. We were really unlucky," Madrid's Brazilian left back Roberto Carlos said.
Deportivo's first goal came after a counterattack in the 29th minute when Tristan shot home after goalkeeper Iker Casillas had parried midfielder Sergio Gonzalez's shot with his legs.
David Beckham, who clashed with Deportivo's Lionel Scaloni in the teams' match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in December, received a kick from the Argentine midfielder which went unseen by the referee in the 34th.
Madrid's midfielder responded a minute later by tripping Capdevila and was cautioned, as were teammates Zidane and right back Michel Salgado around the same time.
Seven minutes later, the Frenchman received his second yellow card when for a foul on Brazilian midfielder Djalminha.
"Perhaps Zidane's ejection was the key because playing with 10 men at this stage of the championship takes its toll on any team," Deportivo coach Javier Irureta said.
Despite its numerical disadvantage, the defending champion dominated the early stages of the second half but Ronaldo was guilty of a miss when he headed well wide from Salgado's cross in the 50th.
Beckham was replaced by Argentine midfielder Santiago Solari in the 62nd, and seven minutes later Deportivo secured the three points when Capdevila hit an unstoppable drive after being teed up at a free kick by Djalminha and his fellow Brazilian Mauro Silva.
Bundesliga
Bastian Schweinsteiger's 75th-minute goal saved Bayern Munich's title hopes, allowing his team to escape with a 2-1 victory against bottom Cologne.
The 19-year-old midfielder, just a minute after entering the game, rifled in a deflected shot that kept Bayern six points behind Werder Bremen, which thrashed Hamburger SV 6-0.
That set the stage for next week's showdown between the two leaders in Munich. Schweinsteiger's goal, on his just second touch of the match, means the Bavarians could cut Bremen's lead to three on Saturday with two rounds to play.
"I've been saying it for weeks, that we can catch Bremen," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, whose team trailed the Northerners by 11 just over a month ago.
Bayern appeared to be facing elimination when it was stunned in the 24th minute by another big German talent, 18-year-old Lukas Podolski, who put his team ahead 1-0.
The crowd of 43,000 at Bremen's Weserstadion broke into a huge roar when pictures of the forward turning around the match against a dominant Bayern were flashed on the stadium screen.
FRENCH LEAGUE
Paris Saint-Germain missed the chance to take second spot in the French first division, drawing 0-0 at strugglers Strasbourg and having a player sent off.
The result means PSG stays in third spot with 67 points, one behind Monaco and two adrift of leader Lyon -- which plays at Bordeaux in Sunday's remaining game.
Midfielder Lorik Cana was red carded for PSG in the 38th minute, and PSG striker Pauleta failed to trouble Strasbourg's defense.
DUTCH LEAGUE
SC Heerenveen failed to clinch a UEFA Cup berth when it lost 1-0 to ADO The Hague, which earned a cushion against relegation in the Dutch soccer championship.
The top three all play today and Ajax could nail its 29th Dutch title if it wins at FC Zwolle, but only if second-placed PSV drops at least two points at bottom club FC Volendam.
The popular 37-year-old Peter Hofstede's 47th-minute goal for The Hague trickled under goalkeeper Hans Vonk for his 50th goal in the Dutch topflight.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has pleaded with South Korea fans to get behind the team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after more boos were aimed at coach Hong Myung-bo despite leading them to qualification. South Korea reached next year’s finals in North America without losing a game, but that does not tell the whole story. The country’s soccer association has been in the firing line, having scrambled about to find a successor after sacking the unpopular Jurgen Klinsmann in February last year. They eventually settled on Hong, the decorated former skipper who had an unsuccessful stint as coach in 2013-2014, during which
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday. Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar. Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta, while Al-Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, are to
Ferrari’s F1 fortunes might be flagging, but the Italian team start this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as favorites, targeting a third consecutive triumph in motorsport’s fabled endurance classic. Roger Federer is acting as celebrity starter with the tennis icon getting the 93rd edition of the jewel in four-wheeled endurance racing’s crown under way tomorrow. Twenty-four hours later, through daylight, darkness and dawn, the 21 elite hypercars are to battle it out over 300 laps (more than 4,000km) in front of a sold-out 320,000 crowd burning the midnight oil with copious quantities of coffee and beer. Ferrari made a triumphant return after
RSS