Three of the top clubs in Europe will be back in the Champions League next season after Arsenal, AC Milan and Schalke pulled out close wins on the final day of their respective seasons.
Arsenal denied North London rival Tottenham the final Champions League spot in the Premier League by holding onto a 1-0 win at Newcastle United.
We didn't get relegated this season and almost two weeks ago that was very possible, and if Wigan had beaten Swansea at home 13 days ago, we would have been 3rd bottom for the first time this season, with just a couple of games to play. Mike Ashley three of Newcastle's worst seasons in [...]
The new Newcastle United 2013-14 away shirt by Puma - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Newcastle United have unveiled their new away shirt for the 2013-14 season. The shirt is manufactured by Puma and the Magpies have adopted denim blue for the away strip.
The club badge is embroidered to the left chest, a printed sponsor to the middle and the Puma logo to the right shoulder and sleeves.
Alan Pardew will meet with Mike Ashley and Derek LLambias this week to sort out what needs to be done this summer, but a 5th bottom finish in the Premier League will make it that much harder to attract top players to Tyneside. Andy Carroll coming home? Newcastle don't need too many players, since [..
And to think last August we had dreams of doing well in the Europa League and again challenging for a top six position or even a top four position in the Premier League. Alan Pardew after one of the many disappointments this season But as so often happens at Newcastle, those dreams were not [...]
Arsenal fans should be used to having our hearts in our mouths towards the end of just about every game since Christmas, but with so much at stake yesterday's game at Newcastle was even nervier than most. Laurent Koscielny's goal calmed us all a little, but we still had to suffer right to the end of the 90 minutes.
Newcastle goal keeper Steve Harper (Image via NUFC official site)
The curtain came down on Newcastle United's season with a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in much lower spirits than it had gone up with a 2-1 victory over Spurs on the opening day back in August.
Mike Ashley and Alan Pardew begin their inquest on Monday on what happened – or didn't happen – over the last ten months of a season, not without its highs, yet with some major lows.
While Wigan spoiled the opportunity to make this a Survival Sunday, the Premier League clubs made up for it with a cascade of goals —36 in all for an average of 3.6 per match.
Here are the match highlights for all of the games on the final day of the 2012-13 Premier League season. Due to rights restrictions, the videos are only playable in the United States.
In our last six games, after were eliminated from the Premier League by Benfica we own one and drew two and they a=were all away from home, and in our three home games we lost the lot and conceded 10 goals without even scoring one. Not good. Mike Ashley must bring in at least [...]
This has been a shocking season for Newcastle United, and after finishing 5th top last season and having a shot at a top four place, we have finished 5th bottom this season, and were fighting relegation how's that for a turnaround in the wrong direction. Alan Pardew second worst season ever in [...
This was a very close game this afternoon, and Newcastle can feel a little unlucky to go down by a single second half goal, after the game was very even for much of the time. Koscielny bangs in the winning goal for Arsenal Sunderland managed to be beaten 1-0 at Tottenham, so a late equalizer [...]
Newcastle went down 1-0 this afternoon to Arsenal for our third successive home defeat, in which we haven't managed to score a goal, but this afternoon's performance was so much better than in the last two and the Magpies were unlucky not to take something out of this game. Let us know who you think [.
Arsene Wenger seems to have made his decision to include Jack Wilshere in the Arsenal starting line up today. Unless he is doing another of his old Jedi mind tricks, of course, and Mikel Arteta and his unmovable appear on the St. James' pitch this afternoon. Assuming the Spaniard has failed to recover from his calf problem, it will be Jack who plays alongside Ramsey.
It's a day of goodbyes today on the final day of the 2012-13 Premier League season. Farewell to Sir Alex Ferguson, Paul Scholes, Jamie Carragher, Wigan Athletic, Reading and Queens Park Rangers.
It's also a goodbye to FOX Soccer, who'll be televising their final Premier League games today on US television before they shut down in late July or early August.
Jack Wilshere is heading for a small operation in the summer to remove a pin from his ankle, but is still expected to play some part in today's game against Newcastle due to the injury to Mikel Arteta.
He admits that this game is so crucial that there may be a few nerves amongst the Arsenal players, but says they just have to calm and professional to make sure of the three points, no matter what happens in the Tottenham game.
Chelsea finished off their Premier League season strong with another win at the Bridge yesterday to finish a strong third place and automatically qualify for the Champions League group stages. Credit goes out to the players and also to Rafa Benitez - more on him in my next post.
It wasn't the best performance we have ever seen and Chelsea weren't exactly at their best but at the end of the day a win is a win and we delivered the three points when it was needed.
The future of Fernando Torres has been called into question many times this season, and with Chelsea wrapping up their Premier League third place finish, Roman Abramovich may axe the Spaniard. The Blues have already brought in Demba Ba whom is still in the process of adapting to the Chelsea way; however, Torres seemingly is ready to welcome any additional striker that signs for the Blues this summer according to ESPN FC.
New Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio (Google Creative Commons)
Sunderland face their final match of the English Premier League campaign this afternoon of May 19, 2013, when they travel to Tottenham's White Hart Lane (see the projected lineups) but a few months ago the side looked less than thrilled to face the end of the season as relegation was looming.
With the managerial merry-go-round going on at full speed in the Premier League at the moment, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has insisted he has no plans to leave the Emirates any time soon. The Frenchman is now by far the longest standing manager in the English top flight, having seen Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson decide he will retire at the end of the season after over 26 years at the helm at Old Trafford.
That was a very, very nervous experience made all the more intense by the fact that we were expected to win. Some how being the underdog in crucial games makes it just that little more bearable when a loss is inevitably considered before and during the game. But win we did and by doing so we secured the chance to play Champions League football next season which I believe makes it sixteen seasons on the trot, no mean feat when you consider just how desperate and disappointed those around us were at missing out again.
Many of the readers on this site spend a lot of time reading the rumours about which players may be on their way to Arsenal. Great fun, and we all want to see the gunners linked with top players and see a few coming to us instead of the usual 'richer' clubs.
Arsenal's 1-0 Premier League victory over Newcastle ensured that the Gunners will be playing the Champions League next season at the expense of North London rivals Tottenham, despite their 1-0 win at home against Sunderland courtesy of another late blockbuster from Gareth Bale.
With the title already secured by Manchester United and relegation matters settled in midweek, the only piece of intrigue left to be settled was who will be playing in Europe next season.
Arsenal fans had to endure a few nervous minutes at the end of the Gunners 1-0 win in Newcastle on May 19, but all's well that ends well as the club managed to finish in fourth place in the English Premier League this season to earn a berth in the qualifying stages of next season's European Champions League.
Arsene Wenger was able to name an unchanged Arsenal side after Mikel Arteta passed a late fitness test on his calf. Although Olivier Giroud was available to play after his three game suspension, Wenger left him on the bench. Newcastle United were determined to try to spoil the party for Arsenal, as were Sunderland at Tottenham.
Wayne Rooney will not play in today's match against West Bromwich Albion, the final game of Sir Alex Ferguson's managerial career.
While Rooney was benched for last week's game against Swansea, today he has been excused from traveling with United because his wife is in labor. Colleen is due to give birth to their second child.
Manchester United wrapped up their 2012-13 season with a dramatic 5-5 draw at West Brom on Sunday. The Old Trafford outfit have cruised to the Premier League title this term, but now will go through...
Scarves outside the gates of The Hawthorns pay tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson (Image via Facebook)
On May 19, 2013, Manchester United and the world of football said goodbye to living legend, Sir Alex Ferguson. In what was the manager's 1500th match in charge of United, his charges delivered a send off that was worthy of the 71-year-0ld.
According to reports from ESPN on the morning of May 19, 2013, Manchester United have announced that Wayne Rooney will not participate in today's match against West Bromwich Albion.
Rooney has been on a mission to see if the grass is greener on the other side as his ill-timed transfer request already upset enough people having been brought to the table the same time as Sir Alex Ferguson's announcement of retirement at the end of the campaign.
This is reported to be Manchester United's new home kit for next season. The champions are set to return to defend their Premier League title equipped with button down collars if these images are anything to go by. The new kit is expect to go on sale on menswear sites such as Sports Direct, as [...]
In addition to FOX Soccer bidding us goodbye today after 15 years of Premier League coverage, it was the final day for ESPN's Ian Darke and Steve McManaman bringing us their Premier League matches.
Here's a video they did to say goodbye, which includes funny outtakes.
Darke and Macca will continue on at ESPN but will also work for BT Sport.
After 15 years of soccer coverage, today marked the final day of FOX Soccer's coverage of the English Premier League on US television.
I'd personally like to thank everyone at FOX who's been involved in bringing us the world's best soccer league to us through all of these years. For years, the talent and the crew at FOX Soccer have been waking up at ungodly hours in the morning (west coast time) to bring us an incredible amount of live Premier League matches.
There will never be another like him; Jamie Carragher... Image: guardian.co.uk
Liverpool played their last game of the season on Sunday against QPR at Anfield. The game didn't have any real purpose behind it though and so all of the focus was on the retiring Jamie Carragher.
We had decent revenues for the last financial year of £93.3M, but it's likely to take a drop in the financial year that finishes at the end of June. Derek LLambias could see revenues decline this season Here's how Newcastle revenues have looked over the last five years, with the big drop coming when [.
Anyone who tells you they enjoyed any moment of yesterday that came before the final whistle in our game is either a liar or just not very well in the head.
I felt unwell throughout the game, stomach churningly unwell.
Alan Pardew went on nufcTV immediately after the third successive home defeat, in which we have conceded 10 goals and scored none. Alan Pardew I've learned a lot So we've gone from 5th top to 5th bottom in a short twelve months, and that's kind of par for the course for Newcastle fans. Alan [...]
There is a belief in football that you should not change a winning team and that is what Arsenal have had for the last three games. Arsene Wenger had suggested that Olivier Giroud would return after his suspension and that Mikel Arteta would not be able to play due to his calf problem, but that seems to have been intended to keep the Newcastle manager Alan Pardew and his players guessing right to the last minute.
