Norwich City were relegated as they loss to Aston Villa and relegation rivals Burnley beat fellow strugglers Watford. Elsewhere, Brighton beat Wolves and Crystal Palace defeated Southampton.
Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich City
Norwich suffered relegation back to the Championship as Dean Smith’s return to Aston Villa ended in a 2-0 Premier League defeat.
A 10th loss in 12 meant the yo-yo specialists made it four straight seasons which have ended in either promotion or relegation, a painful way for Smith to mark his return to the ground where he began the season in charge.
Defeat was down to goals from Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, the second somewhat cruelly created by former Norwich man Emi Buendia, though the killer blows were applied 90 miles south at Vicarage Road where Burnley scored twice in four minutes late on to come from behind and beat Watford 2-1.
Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich
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Norwich go down with a whimper. pic.twitter.com/zyRz8uWizW
That left Norwich 13 points adrift of safety with four games left to play.
For Villa, this was a first win in five to lift them to 13th place, a timely win for Steven Gerrard given his side started the afternoon in 15th, only one higher than they were when Smith was sacked in November.
Watford 1-2 Burnley
Burnley came back from a goal down in the final 10 minutes to move five points clear of the bottom three with a 2-1 win at Watford which confirmed Norwich’s relegation.
The pressure at the bottom of the table has shifted on to 18th-placed Everton and Leeds, who dropped to 17th following Burnley’s win.
An own goal from James Tarkowski handed the home side the lead, and the visitors can consider themselves unlucky with the manner of the goal, as Juraj Kucka’s strike rebounded off the crossbar and into the net off the back of the Burnley defender.
Burnley left it late to find a leveller, with Jack Cork heading in an 83rd-minute equaliser before Josh Brownhill’s strike sealed the comeback victory for the visitors.
The Hornets had started the game second from bottom and nine points behind their opponents with five games remaining, however they now require wins in all their remaining matches this season as well as a big goal-difference swing to remain in the top flight.
Burnley’s turnaround after parting company with Sean Dyche continued, with the Clarets taking 10 points from four games since Mike Jackson took over at Turf Moor.
Southampton 1-2 Crystal Palace
Substitute Wilfried Zaha struck as stoppage time winner as Crystal Palace came from behind to win 2-1 at Southampton.
Oriol Romeu headed the Saints in front from a James Ward-Prowse corner after nine minutes.
Eberechi Eze hauled Palace level on the hour, volleying in a cross from Nathaniel Clyne, and Zaha struck in added time to complete the turnaround.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Brighton & Hove Albion
Dominant Brighton strolled to victory at Wolves to set a new club record and deliver a hammer blow to the hosts’ European hopes.
The Seagulls posted a new record points tally in the Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Molineux.
Alex Mac Allister recovered from an earlier penalty miss to score from the spot before Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma wrapped up victory.
Brighton climbed to ninth – on 44 points – to inflict Wolves’ heaviest home defeat of the season.
