Premier League, Week 38: Season Finishes With A Bang

Manchester City Win Title: Football, Bloody Hell 2.0

Manchester City provide fitting climax to dramatic season.

VIDEO: Paul Merson Reacts Like We All Did To Manchester City's Comeback

The Inevitable Joey Barton Post

VIDEO: Sergio Aguero Wins Manchester City The Title

Photo: Manchester City Fans Celebrate Title Win

Premier League, Week 38: And Here Are The Games That Didn't Matter

And now for the games that didn't matter at all. There were four fixtures that ended up essentially irrelevant, not effecting much of anything. Do you care? No? Do we care? Also no. But it's nice to have the scores up for completeness:

• Chelsea 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
• Swansea City 1-0 Liverpool
• Norwich City 2-0 Aston Villa
• Wigan Athletic 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers.

And that's a wrap on the Premier League season, folks. Congratulations to Manchester City for winning the title in a game that very much did matter, and commiserations to Bolton Wanderers, who were relegated despite a magnificent effort at Stoke City today.

English Premier League, Week 38: Arsenal, Tottenham Win To Clinch 3rd And 4th

Arsenal are assured of Champions League football next season, while Tottenham Hotspur have to wait to see what their fate will be. Both teams won their matches on the final day of the Premier League season, putting Arsenal in third place and Tottenham in fourth to close the year. Because both teams won, there was nothing Newcastle United could have done to break into the top four, and they put in a less than stellar performance against Everton.

West Bromwich Albion scored twice against Arsenal, but their goalkeeper let them down. Backup keeper Martin Fulop was called into action and looked nowhere near ready. He should have done better on Arsenal's equalizer, and was solely at fault for their first and third goals in the Gunners' 3-2 win. It was a truly dreadful performance, and will surely make some sort of list of '10 worst Premier League goalkeeping performances of all time' somewhere in the future. Yossi Benayoun was more or less flawless for Arsenal and was the clear man of the match.

At White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur coasted to a comfortable victory over Fulham, with Emmanuel Adebayor scoring in the 3rd minute to put his side ahead. Jermain Defoe came off the bench and sealed the victory with a 63rd minute goal. Fulham were not poor, but obviously missed the injured Clint Dempsey and never looked much like winning.

If both of those teams had capitulated like they have at other points in the season, Newcastle wouldn't have been able to take advantage. Everton scored twice in the first half, then went 3-0 up in the 65th minute. Newcastle made the final score 3-1 with a late consolation goal, an own goal by Tony Hibbert. Also, 'smart veteran leader' Tim Cahill got a straight red card after the whistle that will see him suspended for the first three games of next season. Whoops!

Bolton Relegated After Controversial Draw

Bolton Wanderers needs a win against Stoke City in order to remain in the Premier League, and they almost got it. It was 2-1 for the majority of the second half, and the greater concern was the shocking scoreline at the Eithad, where 10-man QPR had a shocking 2-1 lead against Manchester City. In the 77th minute a penalty was awarded for Ádám Bogdán's challenge in the box on Peter Crouch, which Johnathan Walters converted to bag his second of the game. Bolton poured everyone at their disposal forward but it wasn't happening for them, with Stoke managing to drag out the draw sending Bolton to the Championship.

Just minutes later Sergio Aguero would score a winner for Manchester City deep into stoppage time, meaning that a win for the Trotters would have kept them safe. That being the case, the scrutiny of both Stoke's penalty (Bogdán appeared to have gotten the ball cleanly and the contact looked to have been minimal) and to a far greater extent Walters' controversial opener will likely be intense over these next few days. Clearly this result is not the sole reason for Bolton's relegation, but had a foul been called the Trotters would have likely gone on to make the great escape and stay in the Premier League. It's a bitter pill to swallow.

QPR will consider themselves incredibly lucky, as a different outcome at the Britannia combined Joey Barton's sending off and a last-minute capitulation would have sent them back to the Championship. They'll survive by the skin of their teeth, however, and with the promise of further investment over the summer they may well be a much improved side next year. For Bolton a season full of all different varieties of misery has come to the cruelest of ends, and they will play next season in the Championship, their first spell below the top flight in ten seasons.

Manchester City Wins English Premier League Title

Manchester City have captured their third top-flight title in their club's history.

Manchester City Vs. QPR: Final Score 3-2 City; Hosts Win Title In Insane Game

Oh my god. Oh my god that just happened. The most insane five minutes in Premier League history sees Manchester City crowned champions with two goals in stoppage time after trailing by a goal against Queens Park Rangers. If you'd asked at halftime what was going to happen... well, everyone would have said City were winners all the way. Wayne Rooney had put Manchester United 1-0 up against Sunderland with a neat near-post finish, but that result was going to be academic if City won, and they were 1-0 up thanks to a goal by Pablo Zabaleta, and it didn't look like that was under any serious threat.

Then Djibril Cisse took advantage of a moment of lunacy from Joleon Lescott, whose attempted clearance went backwards and straight into the path of the striker. He finished coolly past Joe Hart to make it 1-1. City still must have thought they had a chance to win, especially when QPR captain Joey Barton got sent off for elbowing Carlos Tevez in the head (he kicked out at Sergio Aguero after having already been shown red).

And then QPR scored again! Jamie Mackie's run went completely untracked as the ten-man Rangers poured forward for the second time all match, and the midfielder sent a tumbling header flying past Hart for an incredibly improbable 2-1 lead. City looked completely out of ideas, and as time ran down the visitors were almost comfortable as aimless crosses and snatched-at shots flew harmlessly past Paddy Kenny's goal.

There were five minutes of injury time. Five minutes to score twice, because Manchester United were wrapping up their 1-0 win at Sunderland. And then...

Edin Dzeko hasn't done particularly well since his big-money move from Wolfsburg last season, but he was brought in to provide an aerial threat. That move paid off, the big Bosnian heading home from a David Silva corner — just after Mario Balotelli had missed a point-blank header of his own. It was 2-2 with three minutes remaining in the season. Even that should have been enough for United to claim another Premier League win. It wasn't.

It wasn't because two minutes later Sergio Aguero, fed by Balotelli, managed to skip past Taye Taiwo, settle his feet for a shot from a very acute angle, and blast past Paddy Kenny for a 3-2 lead. The Etihad Stadium went berserk as the Argentine peeled away. The goal would seal the title for City — their first of the Premier League era — and end the most insane title race in recent memory.

Five minutes of injury time were the difference between City being three points behind United and winning the thing on goal difference (64 to 56). Oh my god.

Joey Barton Thinks Referee Isn't Looking, Takes Cheap Shot, Is Wrong, Is Sent Off

If QPR end up losing to Manchester City and heading back to the Championship, a great deal of the blame may well fall to Joey Barton. The midfielder was shown a straight red card after taking a cheap shot at Sergio Aguero's knee and then headbutting Carlos Tevez while he believed the referee's attention was elsewhere. Unfortunately for Barton, his teammates and his team's fans, he was mistaken, and now QPR will be forced to weather an ever-intensifying storm if they want to earn a draw and take their Premier League status into their own hands.

Still, perhaps Barton being a complete and total idiot was just what the visitors needed to inspire them to victory; just minutes after Barton was sent off, Jamie Mackie gave QPR the unlikeliest of leads, putting both Bolton's place in the Premier League and Manchester City's title hopes into serious doubt. Stay tuned, folks. There's almost certainly more crazy on the way.

Relegation Battle: Halftime Scores

As things currently stand, Bolton Wanderers are in 17th place thanks to goals from Mark Davies and Kevin Davies, while QPR are in the relegation zone after a goal from Pablo Zabaleta put Manchester City ahead going into half time. Bolton ended the half looking inspired and bouyant, while QPR have every appearance of a team just desperately hoping that things do not get too far out of hand.

Things were looking bleak indeed for Bolton after Jonathan Walters gave Stoke City an early 1-0 lead. Wanderers manager Owen Coyle was furious with the referee after the goal, and he just might have had a point; Matthew Etherington's cross was sent far too close to Trotters Adam Bogdan, but a charging Walters barged into the keeper who appeared to have control of the ball, heading it away and into the net. Bolton equalized just shy of 40 minutes, with Mark Davies latching onto a loose ball in the box and firing off of Andy Wilkinson and past Asmir Begović. Bolton would take the lead right before the half-time whistle when a curling ball from Kevin Davies got behind Begović, who then punched the ball into the net in a somewhat shocking display.

QPR spent much of the first half simply playing not to lose, cramped in their own half with nine men behind the ball, and for much of the time it worked; Manchester City consistently looked dangerous but never found the final ball needed to sufficiently break the opponent down. Still, the goal always looked as though it were coming and indeed it did, from the most unlikely of sources; Zabaleta jinked into the box and took a clever flick and shot a curler towards Paddy Kenny. The QPR keeper likely ought to have done better, as his punch away resulted in the ball taking a wild, looping deflection into the back of the net.

There's still plenty of time for plenty to change in either game, but as it stands Bolton will be feeling good about their chances. QPR will need to make wholesale changes to get back into the game, while Manchester City still have everything for which to play. But Bolton will either need to keep looking for goals or put their faith in a defense that's been woeful all season, and though their lead is deserved they've been the beneficiary of luck in putting two past a stingy Stoke City defense. Keeping in mind the Trotters have no choice but to win, there's still no call for overconfidence.

Champions League Race: Halftime Scores

Halftime around the league, and right now it's Tottenham Hotspur who look like they'll be taking that vital third spot in the league thanks to a very early Emmanuel Adebayor goal against Fulham. Newcastle United, meanwhile, are in very deep trouble at Everton — Steven Pienaar smashed in from long range via a deflection and then Nikica Jelavic made a through ball count at the second time of asking, netting the rebound after Tim Krul saved his initial effort to make it 2-0.

Arsenal have managed to come back to level pegging at the Hawthorns after going 2-1 down. They scored early through Yossi Benayoun, but West Bromwich Albion struck twice in four minutes thanks to a very offside Shane Long goal and then a neat finish from the top of the box by Graham Dorrans. Andre Santos has made it 2-2 with a low effort that Marton Fulop could only push off the post and in, so right now it looks like the Gunners are going to finish fourth. They'll be hoping for a Chelsea loss in the Champions League final next weekend, then. Not that they wouldn't be already.

Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Everton (Emmanuel Adebayor, 2')

West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Arsenal (Yossi Benayoun 4', Shane Long 11', Graham Dorrans 15', Andre Santos 30')

Everton 2-0 Newcastle United (Steven Pienaar, 16', Nikica Jelavic 27')

Premier League Title Race: Halftime Scores

It's halftime around the Premier League, and as it stands Manchester City will be crowned champions. Manchester City know they need a win at home against relegation-threatened QPR and although they took their time in getting it, it finally came thanks to a combination of the rather injured Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta. Toure, who's been hobbling around with a hamstring problem, was given space in the penalty box and slipped in the right back for a rare inside run. The finish was... right at Paddy Kenny, but the goalkeeper could only spill it onto his far post and in.

Manchester United are also 1-0 up thanks to a near-post finish from Wayne Rooney, but that won't matter much until they can somehow score a silly number of goals at the Stadium of Light. They've had their chances, but, like against Swansea City last weekend, they're being very, very wasteful. Is this the day that the title goes to the noisy neighbours?

At halftime then:

Manchester City 1-0 Queens Park Rangers (Pablo Zabaleta, 39')

Sunderland 0-1 Manchester United (Wayne Rooney, 20')

Tottenham Hotspur Goes Up Early; Arsenal-West Brom Already 1-2

The race for third and fourth places on the Premier League's final day already has plenty of intrigue, less than 10 minutes into the matches. Tottenham Hotspur are ahead on Fulham, while West Brom are controversially level with Arsenal.

The Gunners scored in the 4th minute of their game, with Yossi Benayoun capitalizing on a horrible error by West Brom keeper Marton Fulop, but their joy was short-lived. In the 11th minute, the linesperson inexplicably missed an easy offside goal, helping the Baggies to an equalizer. Shane Long was a good two yards offside when he was played through on goal, but the flag stayed down and he scored the equalizer.

News got worse a few minutes later for Arsenal when Graham Dorrans pounced on a loose ball four minutes after his side went level, slipping past Wojciech Szczesny to make it 2-1 to the Baggies at the Hawthorns. However, the gunners remain in top-four contention thanks to Steven Pienar's goal against Newcastle United for Everton. As things stand, Spurs are third, Arsenal fourth and Newcastle fifth, but it's early days.

Premier League 2012, Week 38 Preview And Fixtures: Manchester [Redacted] Wins The League!

It's the final week of the Premier League season, and there's still everything to be decided; the title could go either way, three teams are in the mix for Europe and the Championship's schedule-makers are waiting with baited breath.