LONDON: Cardiff City have been relegated back to the second tier of English league football after only one season in the Premier League following a 3-2 home defeat by Crystal Palace.

Needing to win this game to keep intact their faint hopes of staying up, Cardiff hit the post inside the first minute through Josh Murphy but then fell behind when their former loanee Wilfried Zaha fired into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

The Bluebirds equalised less than two minutes later as Martin Kelly turned a Leandro Bacuna cross into his own net, only for Palace to regain the lead as Michy Batshuayi applied an emphatic finish to a fluent passing move.

Cardiff rallied with a handful of second-half chances but Andros Townsend crushed any lingering hopes the hosts had of avoiding relegation when he cut inside from the right wing and struck with a low effort which went in off the post.

Bobby Reid scored in the 90th minute to reduce the Bluebirds’ deficit but they were ultimately well beaten by a confident Palace side, who climb up to 12th in the Premier League table.

In a quirky twist of fate, the Eagles’ victory also secures top-flight survival for their bitter rivals Brighton.

At the other end of the table Tottenham had Son Heung-min and Juan Foyth sent off as they lost 1-0 at Bournemouth to a late goal from Nathan Ake.
Spurs headed to the Vitality Stadium looking to secure a top-four finish with victory in Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off.

However, Mauricio Pochettino’s side were down to 10 men just before half-time.

Son reacted angrily to Jefferson Lerma trying to retrieve the ball and pushed the Bournemouth midfielder opponent over, which saw referee Craig Pawson immediately show the South Korean a red card.

Spurs’ afternoon got even worse just three minutes following the restart when Foyth, on as a half-time substitute, was also swiftly dismissed when he overran the ball and went through with a foot raised on Jack Simpson.

Despite being down to nine men, the visitors looked to have done enough to hold out for a spirited point only for Bournemouth defender Ake to head in from a corner during stoppage time.

Spurs are now likely to have to beat Everton in their final game next Sunday to be guaranteed Champions League football again – unless Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all lose this weekend.

Marko Arnautovic scored his first goals since January as West Ham swept aside Southampton 3-0.

The Austrian, whose form had deserted him since a lucrative move to China failed to materialise during the transfer window, found the net twice to sink the Saints.

Ryan Fredericks hit the third as West Ham secured their biggest home win of the season in their final outing at the London Stadium.

The hosts were missing two of their most influential players, Declan Rice and Felipe Anderson, through illness, but it did not show as they raced into a 16th-minute lead through Arnautovic.

Yan Valery inexplicably gave the ball away with a loose pass to Mark Noble in the centre circle.

The Hammers skipper charged forward and played the perfect throughball to Arnautovic, who took a touch before drilling it past Fraser Forster.

It felt like a moment of redemption for the forward, who has on occasions been booed by the West Ham fans following his unseemly attempts to engineer a January move.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl sent on Nathan Redmond at the start of the second half to inject some life into their attack.

The winger met a corner at the far post but with plenty of the goal to aim at he blasted his shot straight at Antonio.

Shortly after Redmond’s volley forced Lukasz Fabianski into his only save of the afternoon.

Saints felt they should have had a penalty when Fredericks collided with Shane Long in the area but referee Stuart Attwell did not agree.

Forster saved from Lanzini at his near post but West Ham were beginning to exert more pressure, and it told in the 69th minute.

Forster could only palm Arthur Masuaku’s drilled cross into the body of Arnautovic, who snaffled a simple header as the ball looped into the air.

Three minutes later West Ham had their third, Fredericks combining with substitute Jack Wilshere to find an opening before firing beyond Forster for his first Premier League goal.

Arnautovic almost completed a hat-trick when he cut inside onto his right foot only to curl the ball agonisingly wide.

Leander Dendocker’s late strike kept Wolves‘ European dreams alive after a 1-0 win over Fulham.

Watched by WWE wrestler Sin Cara, a friend of striker Raul Jimenez, Dendoncker landed the knockout blow against the doomed Cottagers.

Diogo Jota had earlier wasted three fine openings and Dendoncker hit the bar before his winner at Molineux.

Relegated Fulham were left to rue Aleksandar Mitrovic’s second-half miss as they slipped to a 25th Premier League defeat of the campaign.

Wolves sit seventh ahead of next weekend’s season finale which would book them a Europa League qualifying spot if Watford lose the FA Cup final to Manchester City.

It was a deserved victory even if the game was instantly forgettable.

Wolves were unbeaten in their previous seven league games at Molineux but almost paid the price for a pedestrian pace when Mitrovic missed a golden chance just after the hour.

The quiet Ryan Sessegnon wriggled onto Cyrus Christie’s throughball and cut back for Mitrovic, only for the striker to blaze over from 10 yards.

It spurred Wolves into action and Rico palmed Ruben Neves’ 25-yard drive behind and a minute later Rico got a vital touch to Matt Doherty’s far-post header.

Fulham were made to pay for Mitrovic’s miss when Dendocker struck with 15 minutes left.

Moutinho’s neat pass slipped Doherty in and he crossed for the onrushing midfielder to guide a cushioned volley into the corner from 10 yards.

Fulham were beaten and Jota almost added a second when his fierce half volley hit the bar.

But the Cottagers did create some history when Harvey Elliott, aged 16 years and 30 days, became the Premier League’s youngest ever player after coming on as a late substitute.

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