Defensive errors and poor finishing in front of goal contributed to West Bromwich Albion’s demise yesterday, as the Baggies became the first team to be relegated from the English Premier League this season as they lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool.
West Brom came out knowing they needed to score goals to have any chance of remaining in England’s top league, and they forced a great double save out of Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina after five minutes.
PHOTO: AFP
It was a defensive error by Shelton Martis that handed the Reds their first though, when he gave the ball away to Steven Gerrard, who slotted the ball past Deam Kiely ain the 28th minute.
West Brom striker Marc-Antoine Fortune missed two golden opportunities to get his team back in the match, but Dirk Kuyt put the result beyond doubt in the 63rd minute after beating two defenders and West Brom’s dreams of escaping the drop were over.
On Saturday, Hull drew 1-1 at Bolton to lift Phil Brown’s side above Newcastle and out of the bottom three, setting up a game against Premier League Champions Manchester United.
After watching Craig Fagan equalize after Gretar Steinsson had given Bolton the lead, Brown said: “It’s back in our hands having to face the champions and there will be suggestions about weakened sides but nobody does you any favors in the Premier League.”
Newcastle, who travel to Aston Villa for their final match, slipped back into the relegation zone after a 1-0 home defeat by Fulham that was shrouded in controversy over a disallowed Mark Viduka strike.
Newcastle boss Alan Shearer described himself as “bitterly disappointed” over what he felt should have been an equalizer from Viduka, whose effort was disallowed because Kevin Nolan was judged to have fouled Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
Diomansy Kamara’s first-half strike kept Fulham in seventh place, the final qualifying spot for European soccer, and Newcastle’s chances of salvaging something evaporated after Sebastien Bassong was sent off midway through the second period for a professional foul on Kamara.
Shearer said: “It’s out of our hands. We have got to better Hull next weekend.”
Tuncay Sanli gave Middlesbrough fans hope they could yet beat the drop with an overhead kick after 14 minutes, only for John Carew’s second half strike to earn Villa a point that leaves Boro three points behind Hull and with four goals to make up in terms of goal difference.
Everton leapfrogged Villa into fifth place after a 3-1 win over 10-man West Ham, who had James Tomkins sent off for a foul on Tim Cahill that enabled Louis Saha to cancel out Radoslav Kovac’s early long-range strike with a 38th-minute penalty.
Joseph Yobo’s first goal of the season and Saha’s second completed a comfortable win that ends West Ham’s hopes of European soccer.
Second-half goals from Ricardo Fuller and James Beattie allowed Stoke to celebrate the last home match of their first season back in the top flight with a 2-0 win over Wigan.
Tottenham kept their hopes of a Europa League place next season alive with a 2-1 win over Manchester City. A Robbie Keane penalty four minutes from time gave Spurs the win after City’s Valeri Bojinov had canceled out Jermain Defoe’s 29th-minute effort.
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