Chelsea won its second straight Premier League title Saturday while Birmingham City and West Brom were relegated.
With two game remaining, Chelsea clinched the title with a 3-0 home victory over second-place Manchester United with goals from William Gallas, Joe Cole and Ricardo Carvalho.
Birmingham City drew 0-0 with Newcastle, and West Brom didn't play. They were relegated to the League Championship, the level below the Premier League, because Portsmouth -- the team ahead of them -- defeated Wigan 2-1.
PHOTO: AP
Sunderland was relegated several weeks ago.
Elsewhere, it was: Liverpool 3, Aston Villa 1; Manchester City 1, Fulham 2; Middlesbrough 0, Everton 1; Charlton 0, Blackburn 2
Charlton manager Alan Curbishley, one of four coaches supposedly in contention to take over England's national team, announced his resignation before the 2-0 loss to Blackburn. Charlton has one more game to play -- against Man United -- before Curbishley steps away.
PHOTO: AP
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari took his name out of the running on Friday.
Curbishley, who took joint-charge in 1991 with Steve Gritt before becoming sole manager in 1995, is the second longest serving manager in the Premier League after Manchester United's Alex Ferguson.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who won back-to-back league titles with Porto in Portugal before moving to Chelsea, said he almost quit this season.
In breaking the domination of Man United and Arsenal, the Blues have parleyed the riches of billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich into trophies. However, they won one fewer trophy this year than last -- and made few friends doing it.
"During the season I have thought a couple of times to close the door and say goodbye," Mourinho said. "Not at that moment but to do it at the end of the season."
Mourinho has developed a reputation as a good tactician and motivator, but many have soured on his defensive style of play and his inability to lose gracefully.
"I won nine consecutive matches at the start of the season and, after that, I won a lot more matches," he said.
He said Chelsea had been "treated in a very negative way" during the season.
"I was never, never, never manager of the month. Not one single time. I'm here for two years. In two years I am champion and I'm manager of the month twice in two years."
Awarded a winner's medal after the match, Mourinho threw it into the crowd, saying he'd won one last season. When he was given a replacement, he also threw that to the crowd, explaining the fans had played a major part in Chelsea's 44-game unbeaten run at home.
With two games to play, Chelsea has 91 points with Man United and Liverpool both on 79. Liverpool has only one match to play. Tottenham is in fourth with 62 points and Arsenal has 58 as they contend for the final Champions League berth.
Arsenal has three games remaining, while Tottenham plays the first of its last two against Bolton on Sunday.
Today, it's: Sunderland vs. Arsenal, Manchester United vs. Middlesbrough, West Brom vs. West Ham. Blackburn hosts Chelsea on Tuesday, while Bolton hosts Middlesbrough on Wednesday.
Portsmouth guaranteed its spot in next season's Premier League with the 2-1 win over Wigan. Matthew Taylor converted a penalty in the 71st to break a 1-1 tie. Henri Camara had scored in the 34th and Benjani Mwaruwari equalized in the 63rd.
Liverpool held on to third place with its 3-1 win over Aston Villa. Steven Gerrard scored twice and Fernando Morientes had the other. Gareth Barry scored in the second half for Villa.
Collins John and Steed Malbranque scored late as Fulham rallied to beat Manchester City 2-1.
James McFadden scored Everton's winner a minute from the finish to beat Middlesbrough 1-0.
Blackburn defeated Charlton 2-0. Steven Reid scored for Blackburn with the other goal coming on an own-goal by Chris Powell of Charlton.
Rangers beat Kilmarnock 3-1, nudging the Scottish powerhouse within four points of second-place Hearts.
Hearts play at home today against Celtic, which has already clinched the Scottish Premier League title.
In other results Saturday: Aberdeen 4, Hibernian 0; Dundee United 0, Falkirk 2; Livingston 0, Inverness 1; Motherwell 2, Dunfermline 3.
Kilmarnock took a 1-0 lead on Colin Nish's goal in the 27th minute, but Rangers came back with two second-half goals from Marvin Andrews and another from Kris Boyd.
Celtic has 89 points, followed by Hearts with 67, Rangers 63 and Hibernian 59.
Claudio Pizarro's header in the 59th minute gave Bayern Munich its 13th German Cup title with a 1-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bayern's target is to become the first German team to repeat the domestic double. In the Bundesliga, Bayern has a five-point lead with three games remaining.
The goal by Pizarro, who outjumped two defenders to Ze Roberto's corner, ended booing from 63,000 spectators. For much of the match, the favorites struggled against their relegation-threatened Bundesliga rival.
``Frankfurt had nothing to lose, but we didn't play well, I have to say that. But it's one more title,'' Bayern midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic said.
Bayern survived a scare in the 88th minute from Frankfurt's Greek forward, Ioannis Amanatidis. His shot off a corner through a crowd of players forced goalkeeper Oliver Kahn into a late one-handed save.
"I didn't see a thing, there were four or five players in front of me. It was instinct -- I had that little luck that it came where it did," Kahn said.
Kahn became the first player to win the German Cup five times. Bayern, which also has 19 German league titles, has won all but two of its 15 appearances in the final.
Frankfurt, which claimed four German Cups between 1974 and 1988, earned a spot in the UEFA Cup despite the loss. Bayern will give up the berth which comes with its latest title to play the Champions League next season.
During a sluggish first half, Amanatidis wasted a good chance and Bayern forward Roy Makaay put a shot left of the open goal after 'keeper Oka Nikolov ran out and misjudged Willie Sagnol's cross.
Nikolov made amends in the 48th when he handed Makaay's powerful volley over the crossbar.
Makaay's attempt came in the midst of several chances by Bayern to start the half, but the Bundesliga leader had trouble moving the ball until Pizarro's fifth goal in the competition.
At times, it was hard to see any difference between Bayern and the 13th-placed side, one of the Bundesliga's youngest teams. Bayern is also having trouble scoring regular wins in the league.
``We just aren't playing well at the moment,'' said Bayern defender Valerien Ismael.
The German Cup is usually held after the season, but was moved forward because of the World Cup.
Bonaventure Kalou and Vikash Dhorasoo scored a goal each as Paris Saint-Germain beat fierce rival Marseille 2-1 to win the French Cup for the seventh time.
Toifilou Maoulida pulled a goal back for 10-time Cup winner Marseille.
The win guaranteed PSG, which in eighth spot in the French first division, a place in next season's UEFA Cup.
Thousands of police patrolled the Stade de France stadium and the Paris transport system to guard against trouble at the tense final.
But skirmishes started before the match got underway with police, on foot and on horseback, moving in to disperse rival gangs.
Some 2,300 riot police split into 18 units patrolled the giant stadium, north of Paris, with a further 2,000 officers deployed to monitor transport routes and keep watch on potential trouble spots around the city. Several hundred undercover police were also working in the stadium.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will miss six weeks after breaking a bone in his foot in Saturday's Premier League match against Chelsea -- a major blow to England's World Cup hopes.
In a short statement released on the club's Web site Saturday night, United said Rooney had "a fracture of the base of the fourth metatarsal on his right foot."
"He will be out for six weeks," the statement said.
The diagnosis is bad news for England ahead of the World Cup, which starts on June 9.
The 20-year-old Rooney grimaced in pain and lay clutching his right foot after a challenge by defender Paulo Ferreira 10 minutes from the end of United's 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
"He's got a heavy knock," United manager Alex Ferguson said after the game.
Rooney traveled back to Manchester with his teammates before heading straight to a private hospital, where the extent of his injury was revealed.
With England's opening World Cup game against Paraguay on June 10 exactly six weeks away, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson faces a serious problem.
Rooney was expected to be England's strongest player at the World Cup in Germany and his absence could derail the team's chances of winning the title for the first time in 40 years.
Rooney fractured a metatarsal in the 2004 European Championship quarterfinal against Portugal. He left the field and was out of action for three months.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, whose team retained the Premier League title by beating second-place United, said he felt "scared" for Rooney, whose earlier challenge on John Terry had left the England defender hobbling with a gashed leg.
"I think England need the boy, the World Cup needs the boy," Mourinho said. "I know Paulo didn't touch him and the worst injuries are the ones without contact. The Rooney tackle on JT [Terry] was a nasty one but, 10 stitches, and he will be ready again."
Michael Owen, another key for England, played the last 30 minutes of Newcastle's 0-0 draw with Birmingham City. He was limping near the end. It was his first game since breaking his right foot on New Year's eve.
Team officials said he would see a specialist on Monday.
"When he [Owen] came in he said he was a little bit concerned -- he wasn't quite 100 percent happy with it," Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder said. "But no sharp pain."
"The thought of Rooney and Owen not playing for England is not worth thinking about," Roeder added.
Alan Curbishley RESIGNS
Alan Curbishley, one of four coaches mentioned to take over England's national team, resigned Saturday as manager at English Premier League team Charlton.
The announcement was made just before Charlton's 2-0 loss to Blackburn. He has one more game to coach, the season-ending game with Manchester United.
Curbishley, who took joint-charge in 1991 with Steve Gritt before becoming sole manager in 1995, is the second longest serving manager in the Premier League after Manchester United's Alex Ferguson.
He twice led Charlton to promotion and established the club as a regular mid-table Premier League team for the first time.
Curbishley is seen as a contender for England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's job when the Swede quits after this year's World Cup. Steve McClaren of Middlesbrough, Sam Allardyce of Bolton and former Celtic coach Martin O'Neill are also believed to be in the running.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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