'Incredible' call Villa's pain, Magpies' UCL gain

With title and relegation issues already decided, the focus on the final afternoon of the English Premier League season was on the battle for lucrative Champions League places.

When the dust settled, EPL champions Liverpool, runners-up Arsenal, 2023 winners Manchester City, Chelsea, who took the continental crown in 2012 and 2021, and Newcastle were left looking ahead to Europe's glitziest club competition.

They will be joined by Australian Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham, who qualified by winning the Europa League.

The bitterest taste was for Aston Villa, squeezed out on goal difference by the Magpies after a controversial 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday.

After the curtain came down at Old Trafford, Villa made an official complaint to the Premier League about the selection of referee Thomas Bramall.

They were on course to qualify, despite having goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez sent off just before halftime, until Amad Diallo struck 14 minutes from time.

Moments before that, Villa, who reached this season's Champions League quarter-finals, thought they had taken the lead only for Morgan Rogers' goal to be ruled out as the referee ruled the ball had been kicked out of goalkeeper Altay Bayindir's hands.

Bramall blew for a free kick before the ball crossed the goal-line, so VAR could not intervene. United added a second through Christian Eriksen's late penalty.

Unai Emery, the Villa manager who confronted Bramall after the final whistle, said: "It was a mistake, a big mistake.

"We have to accept it. We lost and we didn't deserve more."

Villa captain John McGinn, whose side will now compete in next season's Europa League, added:

"Man United were the better team ... but the decision is incredible.

"When VAR came in everyone wanted the correct decisions. You watch rugby, if a try's given and even the referee's awarded it, and if it's wrong, it's overturned.

"I know it's the rule ... but it's so hard to take, especially when the impact on the team and the club is so big."

Villa's official complaint is based on Bramall's perceived lack of big-match experience rather than the decision itself.

Chelsea's visit to Forest, who had spent most of the season in the Champions League places, was billed as a winner-takes-all.

And so it proved with the Londoners edging a 1-0 win, with defender Levi Colwill supplying the key moment six minutes into the second half.

That all meant that Newcastle qualified despite a 1-0 home defeat by Everton.

There were fewer dramas for Manchester City, who went to Fulham needing a draw but made absolutely sure with a 2-0 win with goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Erling Haaland.

Elsewhere, Liverpool needed a late equaliser from Mohamed Salah, his 29th league goal of the season, to avoid an Anfield defeat against FA Cup winners Crystal Palace, who had gone in front through Ismaila Sarr.

Arsenal also left it late before securing a 2-1 triumph at bottom club Southampton, with Martin Odegaard coming off the bench to deliver an 89th-minute winner.

Fellow north Londoners Tottenham suffered a Europa League victory hangover as they slumped to a 4-1 home defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion.

Australian Associated Press