LONDON: Burnley were relegated from the Premier League despite beating Hull City 1-0 on Saturday, results elsewhere sending them back to the Championship after one season in the top flight.

Burnley needed to win their last three games to have any hope of avoiding the drop but they were sent down after Sunderland, Leicester City and Aston Villa all won and Newcastle United drew.

Danny Ings scored Burnley’s first goal in over 10 hours but it proved in vain as Sean Dyche’s side have 29 points from 36 matches with two games remaining.

“The lads showed unbelievable fight and spirit today,” said Ings. “I thought we were phenomenal and were on top from start to finish, but it has come a little too late.

“The lads have fought until the end, and I’m extremely proud of them. Now we are going to play the last two games with pride and hope to finish strongly.”

It is the second time Burnley have been relegated from the Premier League a season after securing promotion, having previously met the same fate in 2009-10.

Hull now occupy the final relegation spot with 34 points, and Queens Park Rangers, who are bottom, will also be relegated if they lose to second-placed Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Newcastle ended a run of eight successive defeats thanks to a 1-1 draw with West Brom at St James’ Park which left John Carver’s side 17th, two points above Hull.

Victor Anichebe headed West Brom in front in the 32nd minute, but Newcastle striker Ayoze Perez equalised nine minutes later by gathering a free-kick from Ryan Taylor and finding the bottom-right corner with his left foot.

Newcastle’s north-east rivals Sunderland claimed a gritty 2-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park courtesy scrappy second-half efforts from Danny Graham and Jermain Defoe to climb out of the bottom three and up to 16th with 36 points from 35 games.

Leicester have now won six their last seven league matches and remained on course to avoid the drop after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Southampton moved them up to 15th.

Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez scored both goals in the first 19 minutes, first drilling home left-footed from the edge of the box and then slamming home a left-wing cross from Jamie Vardy.

FA Cup finalists Aston Villa surged up to 14th after a 1-0 win over West Ham United at Villa Park, with on-loan Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley scoring his third goal in three games.

Sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur hold a point advantage over Southampton in the battle for Europa League qualification despite a 3-0 defeat by Stoke City.

Charlie Adam headed Stoke in front in the 21st minute and Steven Nzonzi exploited a mix-up between Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier to make it 2-0 before Mame Biram Diouf added a late third.

Spurs defender Vlad Chiriches was sent off early in the second period after receiving a second yellow card.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2015

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