Premier League News: Manchester United win, West Brom are relegated

Premier League News: Manchester United win, West Brom are relegated

Finally a few issues in the Premier League have been resolved, namely Manchester United have been confirmed as champions. United played out a fairly boring 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Saturday afternoon, where neither goalkeeper really had a save to make, which confirmed them as champions.

Livepool boss Rafael Benitez congratulated the winners, he said: "I prefer just to say well done to the club, a big club, a good club,

"Normally you have to be polite and respect the other manager but during the season we have seen a lot of things that I didn't like, so that's it.

"I say congratulations to United because they have won. And that's it."

Benitez has been criticised for not actually offering his congratulations to United boss Sir Alex Ferguson personally but for me the media are making a big deal of nothing. I don’t see why Benitez should have singled Ferguson out for praise, the two have been at odds all season and there is no reason for that to change now.

The Champions League places were sorted out a while ago, with the usual suspects Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all qualifying for the top European competition. Aston Villa and Everton will definitely be in the new Europa League next season and the final place will go to either Tottenham Hotspur or Fulham. It is a remarkable turn-around for Spurs who were involved in the battle against relegation not so long ago.

One team who failed in their bid to beat the drop are West Brom who went down 2-0 at home to Liverpool on Sunday which confirmed their relegation. Middlesbrough are the favourites to join them with the Premier League betting odds as their draw with Aston Villa means they now have to win by three goals and hope both Newcastle and Hull lose to stay up, with Hull losing at least 2-0. Three teams can occupy the remaining spot on the last day of the season with Newcastle United, Hull City and Sunderland all in danger of going down.

Sunderland are in the best position, they’re on 36 points, Hull are on 35 and Newcastle are on 34. To be honest I can see things staying as they are as they all face difficult games at the weekend. Sunderland end their campaign with a home game against Chelsea, Newcastle have to travel to Aston Villa and Hull face the daunting task of playing newly-crowned champions Manchester United at the KC Stadium.

Wolves and Birmingham City have already booked their place in the Premier League next season after great campaigns in the Championship. The play-off final for the final place will be contested between Burnley and Sheffield United. This is a hard game to call and I won’t offer any betting predictions on it because it really could go either way. Burnley have got the better of Chelsea in the League Cup this season, while Sheffield United are probably the better side on paper and were in the Premier League a few seasons ago themselves. If at all possible I would really recommend trying to watch this game on Monday as play-off finals are usually great games as so much is at stake. I’ll be keeping an eye on it, of course, and I’ll fill all the sports-city readers in on what happened in my post next week anyway.