West Brom relegated, PSG wins French Cup
West Bromwich Albion were relegated from the Premier League on Tuesday after Southampton’s 1-0 victory over Swansea City ended the Midlands club’s eight-year stay in the top flight. They join Stoke City who had earlier been condemned to the Championship.
Southampton’s win moved them on to 36 points, leaving West Brom five points adrift of the safety zone with one match to play.
West Brom have been rejuvenated in recent weeks, winning three games in an unbeaten five-match run.
Yet their impressive late-season rally, spearheaded by the appointment of caretaker manager Darren Moore, came too late in the campaign.
Moore replaced Alan Pardew at the start of April, taking over with the club seven points adrift at the bottom of the table and 10 short of the safety zone with six matches to play.
He helped engineer an almost remarkable turnaround in their fortunes.
He guided them to wins over Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur plus draws against Swansea and Liverpool.
West Brom’s 1-0 home victory over fourth-placed Tottenham on Saturday lifted them off the bottom of table for the first time since January.
However, the celebrations were short-lived.
Any hope of taking their fight for survival to the final weekend of the season was snuffed out at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on Tuesday.
Southampton’s Manolo Gabbiadini bundled home a second-half goal to settle a scrappy encounter that almost certainly kept the south-coast club in the Premier League.
It was a bitter-sweet day for West Brom’s Moore, who had earlier been given the Premier League’s manager of the month award after guiding the club through April unbeaten.
In France, Paris St Germain beat third division side Les Herbiers 2-0 in the final to win a record-extending 12th French Cup title on Tuesday.
PSG hit the woodwork three times in the opening 20 minutes before prevailing with a goal by Giovani Lo Celso and another from the penalty spot by Edinson Cavani.