English premier league Champions Manchester City suffered a final-day 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford.
Defender Ethan Pinnock celebrated signing a new four-year contract earlier in the day by scoring an 85th-minute winner to snatch a 1-0 victory for the Bees.
With the title long since sewn up, Pep Guardiola rested some of his big hitters ahead of next weekend’s FA Cup final, and a potentially historic Champions League showpiece seven days later.
With Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish missing completely and Erling Haaland left on the bench, it was a scratch City side and those established stars who did play, like Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez, had little impact.
Brentford still had something to play for, by contrast, as they were in with a slim chance of qualifying for the Europa Conference League before wins for Tottenham and Aston Villa ultimately scuppered their hopes.
Their players applauded the champions onto the pitch, but that was as far as the respect stretched.
Defeat meant City did not break the 90-point mark for a record fourth time in the EPL, which will irritate Guardiola, but if they win their next two matches – at Wembley and in Istanbul – even the perfectionist will have forgotten that.
Granit Xhaka marked his farewell appearance for second place Arsenal with a brace to help the Premier League runners-up finish their fine campaign with a 5-0 thrashing of Wolves.
Dutch coach Erik ten Hag secured a third-place finish for Manchester United after a 2-1 win against Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
He has already led United to triumph in the League Cup and could add to that when his side faces Manchester City in the FA Cup final next week.
Champions League qualification had already been assured after Thursday’s 4-1 win against Chelsea, but United needed another victory to be certain of finishing above fourth placed Newcastle.
The wildest game saw Southampton and Liverpool draw 4-4.
Aston Villa sealed seventh place and a spot in the Europa Conference League after beating Brighton 2-1.
Leicester City and Leeds United were relegated in a dramatic finale as Everton survived on Sunday.
Everton beat Bournemouth 1-0 which was enough to keep the Merseysiders up despite a 2-1 win for Leicester over West Ham United. Leeds lost 4-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur
with Reuters
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