to beat Queens Park Rangers to win the title and break Manchester
United hearts.
United had thought that Wayne Rooney's solitary strike against
Sunderland was enough to retain their crown until news filtered
through the Stadium of Light about City's last gasp win.
Elsewhere, Arsenal and Tottenham secured third and fourth respectively
in the league with winson the final day of the season and QPR avoided
relegation despite losing to City.
Bolton Wanderers could only draw with Stoke and as a result they drop
down to the npower Championship next season.
Other notable results on Sunday which are reflected in our Team of the
Week include wins for Wigan, Everton and Norwich.
We've gone with a 4-3-3 formation.
GK: Brad Friedel (Tottenham)
Tottenham needed to win on the final day of the season to confirm a
top-four finish regardless of results elsewhere and they did exactly
that with a 2-0 win over Fulham on Sunday. Two superb stops from
goalkeeper Brad Friedel when the result was still in the balance with
Spurs 1-0 up helped his team seal the win.
Friedel reacted brilliantly to first stop John Arne Riise and then
later again to prevent Moussa Dembele from equalising. Only a Chelsea
win now in Munich will prevent Spurs from playing in the Champions
League next season.
RB: Emerson Boyce (Wigan)
Wigan versus Wolves was the probably the game of the weekend which
nobody cared about too muchas the home side had already secured
Premier League safety while the visitors were already relegated.
Well, for those who missed it you missed out on an outstanding
performance from Wigan defender Emerson Boyce. He scored twice -
hissecond goal was a peach too - to secure a 3-2 win over Wolves.
Incredibly, this was Wigan's seventhwin from their last nine Premier
League games.
LB: Gareth Bale (Tottenham)
Barcelona full-back Daniel Alves sees Gareth Bale as the perfect
left-back for an attack minded teamand on Sunday the Welshman slotted
into the role perfectly for Tottenham as they beat Fulham 2-0 to end
the season in fourth.
CB: Johnny Heitinga (Everton)
Everton's newly crowned Player of the Season Johnny Heitinga wrapped
up his campaign with a dominating display against Newcastle United.
The Toon are the Premier League's overachievers this season but they
were brought downto earth by Heitinga who helped guide Everton to a
3-1 win on Sunday night.
Everton finish the season in seventh,one place above Merseyside rivals
Liverpool.
CB: Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
We were toying with the idea of putting John Terry in the final
centre-back slot for our season-ending Team of the Week XI. In the end
we went for Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny who capped off a satisfactory
second season at the club with an impressive display against West
Brom.
Fired up and determined to give their manager Roy Hodgson a win inhis
last game in charge, the Baggies made things very uncomfortable for
the Gunners. It is no stretch of the truth to say that without some of
the stunning last-ditch tackles madeby Koscielny during the game, the
end result would have spelled defeat for Arsenal. Instead, it was the
visitors who won 3-2 to guarantee themselves Champions League football
next season.
CMD: Yaya Toure (Manchester City)
Yaya Toure has finished the season in unstoppable form. In fact, the
only thing which has been able to throw him off-course slightly is a
calf injury he sustained during Manchester City's most dramatic 3-2
win against QPR on Sunday. Playing through the pain barrier, he still
managed to set up the opening goalfor City and they eventually went
onto win the title albeit after almost throwing it away when Toure was
no longer on the pitch.
CMR: Jamie Mackie (QPR)
QPR midfielder Jamie Mackie almostwrote himself into Manchester United
folklore after he finished off a fine move with a header to give the
Rs the second half 2-1 lead against Manchester City on Sunday. As the
clock ticked down it seemed like Mackie's goal would hand United the
title but in the end it wasn't to be as City hit back with two goals
in stoppage time for victory. Not that Mackie will care toomuch about
that, because QPR avoided relegation as Bolton could only get a draw
at Stoke on the finalday of the season.
CML: James Morrison (West Brom)
West Brom midfielder James Morrison's star shone the brightest at The
Hawthorns on Sunday despite the team going down 3-2 to Arsenal. As the
score-line suggests, there was plenty of goal-mouth action in the game
with Morrison the chief architect for a majority of the chances the
home side had.
He set up both goals for the Baggies on the night.
ST: Simeon Jackson (Norwich)
A great season in the Premier League for Norwich was punctuatedby
Canaries striker Simeon Jackson'sfantastic all-around play in their
2-0win over a sorry looking Aston Villa team. Jackson got the ball
rolling towards victory by winning the free-kick which led to Grant
Holt's opener. He then wrapped up the season ending win by punishing
Carlos Cuellar's error with a goal of his own.
ST: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
For the longest time it looked as though Wayne Rooney's solitary
strike against Sunderland would be enough to allow Manchester United
to steal the title right from under the nose of Manchester City. It
didn'thappen in the end as City also won their remaining game but
Rooney can look back on this season with a lot of pride - only Robin
van Persie has scored more goals than him this season and there has
also been a marked improvement in Rooney's disciplinary record for
United this campaign.
ST: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
There's no other way to say it. Sergio Aguero won Manchester City the
title singlehandedly on Sunday with a goal in stoppage time to
givethem the three points they needed against QPR to guarantee trophy
glory. We suppose this late drama could only be described as a fitting
way to end what has been an incredible Premier League season - one in
which Aguero has certainly left his mark on.
Dishonourable Mention: Joey Barton(QPR)
Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to see 'something stupid' at the Etihad on
Sunday and QPR skipper Joey Bartondelivered in his own unique and
brutish fashion. The controversial midfielder was red carded after
elbowing Carlos Tevez; he then proceeded to knee Sergio Aguero, an
incident which sparked a mass confrontation between both sets of
players.
Barton later revealed that he was trying to get a City player sent off
as well shortly after he had received his marching orders. Something
which sheds some light on his behaviour but which won't stop us from
criticising him here.
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