West Bromwich Albion will stay in the English Premier League next season, with Southampton, Crystal Place and Norwich all going down.
In Sunday's final round, West Brom beat visiting Portsmouth 2-0 to clinch survival. With 10 minutes remaining, however, it looked like West Brom was heading down.
At that moment, Crystal Place was beating Charlton 2-1. A victory would have kept Palace in the Premier League, but Charlton's Jonathan Fortune scored in the 82nd to make it 2-2, allowing West Brom to survive.
PHOTO: AP
Substitute Geoff Horsfield scored in the 58th for West Brom and Kieran Richardson made it 2-0 in the 75th.
All 10 season-ending games started at the same time.
"Everybody thought we were already down, but we proved everybody wrong and it's great," Horsfield said. "We've done it, and we're so happy we'll be in the Premier League next year."
Added captain Kevin Campbell: "This team doesn't know when it's beaten. And to really do it on the last day of the season is fitting for us."
Survival was sweet for West Brom manager Byran Robson, who was widely criticized in November when he was named to replace the fired Gary Megson.
A legend at Manchester United as a player, Robson said surviving in the Premier League would be his greatest achievement.
"It's hard to explain, we always thought we had a chance," Robson said. "Things have turned out great for us, and we couldn't have wished for anything better."
Crystal Palace missed staying up by just a few minutes, with manager Iain Dowie trying to stay positive.
"Had we held out for another eight minutes, we might be sitting here talking a different story," he said. "But it is the little margins, the little moment of concentration.
"They didn't go down with a whimper, they went down with a roar."
In the two other crucial games, Norwich fell 6-0 at Fulham and Southampton was beaten by visiting Manchester United 2-1.
West Brom finished with 34 points, followed by Norwich with 33, Crystal Place with 33 and Southampton with 32. West Brom won only six games of 38 this season.
Also Sunday, it was: Birmingham 2, Arsenal 1; Bolton 3, Everton 2; Liverpool 2, Aston Villa 1; Manchester City 1, Middlesbrough 1; Newcastle 1, Chelsea 1; and Tottenham 0, Blackburn 0.
The top four places in the standings were already decided going into the last weekend with Chelsea winning its first title in 50 years. Arsenal was the runner-up followed by Manchester United and Everton.
Chelsea finished with 95 points, followed by Arsenal with 83, Man United with 77 and Everton with 61. Liverpool and Bolton each ended with 58, while Middlesbrough had 55.
Chelsea set four league records: fewest goals allowed (15), most victories (29), most shutouts (25) and most points (95). Manager Jose Mourinho said the records will be tough to duplicate.
"I think it will be hard because they know the team we have," he said. "They know what we can do, and they know they need to be better if they want to fight with us for the championship."
The top four qualified for the Champions League with Liverpool, Bolton and Middlesbrough getting UEFA Cup berths. Liverpool plays in the Champions League final on May 25 against AC Milan, and could be granted a wildcard into the Champions League if it wins.
Norwich was in command going into the deciding games and would have stayed up with a victory no matter what the other three teams did.
"We had it our hands, and we've let it go. But that's football." Norwich manager Nigel Worthington said.
West Brom was one of three teams promoted at the end of last season with Palace and Norwich. West Brom is the first team in the Premier League to stay up despite being in last place at Christmas.
This is the first time since the Premier League began in 1992 that all three relegation places were decided on the final day.
Wigan and Sunderland have already been promoted from the League Championship. The other place will go to either West Ham, Ipswich, Derby or Preston.
West Ham and Ipswich drew 2-2 in their first-leg semifinal playoff on Saturday, and Preston defeated Derby 2-0 on Sunday. The second legs are next week with the survivors playing May 30. The winner will be promoted.
Substitute Craig Beattie scored in the 77th minute to give Celtic a 2-1 win at Hearts and put the defending champion back in first place.
Midfielder Alan Thompson scored with a deflected shot in the 25th minute to give Celtic the lead, but Paul Hartley equalized for Hearts in the 71st.
"We are delighted with the win because it was a really tough game today as we expected," Celtic midfielder Neil Lennon said. "Craig popped up when we really needed something. He was flying in preseason before getting a few bad injuries. But he has been a massive bonus for us."
With one round left to play, Celtic leads the league with 92 points, followed by Rangers with 90. Celtic visits Motherwell next Sunday and Rangers is at third-place Hibernian.
Rangers beats Motherwell 4-1 on Saturday.
Also Sunday, Mark Kerr scored an own-goal in the 88th minute to give Dunfermline a 1-0 win at Dundee United and ensure the club stays in the Premier League.
Juan Roman Riquelme scored his 15th goal of the season from the penalty spot Sunday to earn Villarreal a 1-0 win over Albacete and move his team into third place.
The defeat relegated Albacete, which joined Numancia, the first team to suffer the fate last weekend. The third relegation place is between Levante and Mallorca.
The victory helped Villarreal overtake Sevilla and boost its chances of a debut berth in next season's Champions League. FC Barcelona won the title on Saturday and Real Madrid has clinched second place.
Villarreal dominated throughout and almost scored in the 33rd minute when Uruguay striker Diego Forlan hit the post.
Albacete's resistance ended in the 69th minute when Riquelme converted his eighth spot kick of the season after Villarreal substitute Jose Mari Romero was adjudged to have been pulled back in the penalty area.
Also Sunday, it was: Atletico Madrid 1, Real Betis 2; Espanyol 2, Valencia 2; Mallorca 4, Athletic Bilbao 3; Racing Santander 2, Getafe 1; Zaragoza 2, Deportivo La Coruna 2; Real Sociedad 1, Malaga 3; and Numancia 2, Osasuna 2.
With two games remaining, Villarreal now has 61 points, two more than Sevilla and three more than Betis. Espanyol is sixth with 57 points, three more than last year's champion Valencia.
Betis striker Ricardo Oliveira scored both goals in his team's 2-1 win over Atletico, lifting the team into fifth place.
Juventus closed in on its 28th Serie A title by beating Parma 2-0 while AC Milan was held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Lecce.
Juventus leads defending champion Milan by five points with two rounds to play.
Alessandro Del Piero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed in first-half goals to give Juventus the win over visiting Parma. Juventus, which had been tied with Milan, beat its rival 1-0 at San Siro last Sunday.
Juventus attacked early, and Del Piero headed in the opening goal in the sixth minute.
Ibrahimovic, who was returning from a three-match suspension, scored in the 23rd with a powerful header off a corner kick. It was his 16th goal of the season.
With Juventus in control, Parma substituted its two best players -- striker Alberto Gilardino and playmaker Domenico Morfeo -- during the second half to spare them for next Sunday, which decide relegation spots.
AC Milan, which will be shooting for its seventh European title when it plays Liverpool in the Champions League final on May 25 in Istanbul, Turkey, next hosts Palermo on Friday. Juventus will play at Livorno on Sunday.
Ibrahim Afellay scored two goals Sunday to lead PSV Eindhoven over Feyenoord 4-2 in the Dutch league.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Mark van Bommel also scored for PSV, which has already won the league title. The last round of the season will be played next weekend.
Ajax also won Sunday, beating Vitesse Arnhem 2-0.
Rafael van der Vaart scored one goal and set up the other for Zdenek Grygera.
In the second half, Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg blocked a penalty shot from Matthew Amoah.
Also Sunday, it was: NEC Nijmegen 3, De Graafschap Doetinchem 0; FC Utrecht 0, Willem II Tilburg 3; FC Twente Enschede 3, AZ Alkmaar 0; FC Groningen 1, SC Heerenveen 2; RBC Roosendaal 3, Roda JC Kerkrade 1; RKC Waalwijk 2, FC Den Bosch 0; and ADO The Hague 6, NAC Breda 2.
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