London - Newcastle United and Middlesbrough were relegated from the English Premier League on Sunday after each suffered defeats in their final games of the season. An own goal by Damien Duff meant Newcastle lost 1-0 at Aston Villa, while Middlesbrough lost 2-1 at West Ham to also lose their top-flight status.
Hull City finished just one point above the bottom three despite a 1-0 home defeat by champions Manchester United, while Sunderland survived despite being beaten 3-2 at home by Chelsea.
Newcastle needed at least a point at Villa but suffered a cruel twist of fate when Gareth Barry's speculative shot took a wicked deflection off Duff.
Manager Alan Shearer, who took over with eight games to go, admitted his side had deserved to go down.
"There's hurt, a bit of anger too," he said. "It's a sad day for the football club, but let's be honest, we haven't been good enough all year. That's the fact - we deserve to go down, the bottom three all do."
Shearer's contract is up and the former England captain said he would not make any snap decisions on his future.
"I'll go away and speak to the owner and the chairman and give my opinion, then it's up to them as to which way they go," he said.
"It needs total rebuilding. Newcastle United in the Championship will be a big scalp next season. We are all raw, bitter and hurting and now isn't the time to speak about my future."
Middlesborough needed a big win and for other results to go their way, but Junior Stanislas's winner sealed their fate.
"It's a low for our club, our supporters, our players and staff," Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate said.
"It's incredible that 35 points have been enough to stay up. It's a painful blow for the club but we have to take the pain today and move forward tomorrow."
United fielded a virtually complete reserve team at Hull but still took the points thanks to a long-range effort from Darren Gibson.
Hull manager Phil Brown was a relieved man as his side stayed up.
"It was a roller-coaster of emotions during the last 45 minutes because I asked for the scores at half-time," he said.
"We have survived - and I can say it's the greatest achievement of my career. One of my ambitions was to be a Premier League manager at 50."
The result meant United finished four points clear of Liverpool, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1.
Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia announced he would be standing down from his job despite his side's narrow escape.
Fourth-placed Arsenal trounced Stoke City 4-1, while Everton sealed fifth place thanks to a 2-0 win over Fulham, who nevertheless finished seventh and clinched a place in the Europa League next season.
Manchester City beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0, Wigan Athletic saw off Portsmouth by the same score and Blackburn Rovers drew 0-0 with already-relegated West Bromwich Albion.
