LONDON — An Olivier Giroud hat trick gave Arsenal a 4-0 victory over relegated Aston Villa on Sunday.
The result, combined with Tottenham’s 5-1 defeat against Newcastle, means that Arsenal finishes the season in second place in the English Premier League, one point ahead of their north London rivals.
Giroud’s first goal came in the 5th minute on a header from a Nacho Monreal cross. The Frenchman raced to his hat trick within the space of three second-half minutes with Mesut Ozil and Hector Bellerin providing the assists in the 78th and 80th minutes, respectively. Mikel Arteta added Arsenal’s 4th in stoppage time.
Watch match highlights: Stoke City 2, West Ham 1 || Chelsea 1, Leicester City 1 || Newcastle 5, Tottenham 1 || Watford 2, Sunderland 2 || Everton 3, Norwich City 0 || West Brom 1, Liverpool 1 || Arsenal 4, Aston Villa 0 || Southampton 4, Crystal Palace 1 || Swansea City 1, Manchester City 1 ||
Aston Villa finished the season in 20th place.
Tottenham lose 5-1 to Newcastle, finish 3rd in EPL
NEWCASTLE, England — Tottenham blew its chance to finish second in the English Premier League following a 5-1 final-day thrashing at relegated 10-man Newcastle on Sunday. Newcastle went 2-0 up before halftime through Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksander Mitrovic in the 19th and 39th minutes.
Erik Lamela pulled one back for Tottenham in the 60th, and things looked brighter for Spurs when Mitrovic was sent off for Newcastle for a bad challenge on Kyle Walker in the 67th.
However, a goal from Wijnaldum, followed by strikes from Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat condemned Tottenham to its worst defeat of the season.
The result drops Tottenham into 3rd place with north London rival Arsenal leapfrogging them into second after beating Aston Villa 4-0.
Despite the result, Newcastle finished 18th and is relegated.
Champion Leicester ends amazing season with draw at Chelsea
LONDON — Leicester ended its remarkable title-winning season with a 1-1 draw against manager Claudio Ranieri’s former club Chelsea on Sunday in the English Premier League.
Chelsea took the lead through Cesc Fabregas’ penalty in the 60th minute, following a foul on Nemanja Matic by Jeffrey Schlupp.
Leicester’s equalizer came in the 82nd minute with Danny Drinkwater’s sublime finish into the bottom corner from outside the penalty box.
Leicester finished the season top with 81 points, 10 points above its closest rival Arsenal.
Following a disappointing season, Chelsea finished 10th.
Manchester City guarantee Champions League soccer for next season
SWANSEA, Wales — Manchester City effectively secured a Champions League place for next season with a 1-1 draw against Swansea in the English Premier League on Sunday.
City will almost certainly finish in fourth place and above rival Manchester United.
In manager Manuel Pellegrini’s last league match in charge, City went ahead when Nigeria striker Kelechi Iheanacho capitalized on Sergio Aguero’s shot that rebounded favourably.
Swansea drew level on the stroke of the interval when Jordan Ayew’s free kick took a deflection off Fernando, before wrong-footing goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Man United, whose match was abandoned after a suspect package was found at Old Trafford before its match against Bournemouth, can mathematically overtake City with a double-digit win when its match is rescheduled.
Pellegrini, who won the league title with City in 2014, will now make way for Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola.
“I wanted to win the Premier League this season, but the atmosphere from February when the club announced the new manager was maybe not the best atmosphere,” Pellegrini said.
Aguero and Iheanacho both wasted good first-half chances to take the game out of the reach of Swansea, whose manager Francesco Guidolin signed a two-year contract on Wednesday.
Swansea finished an impressive 12th.
Liverpool manage draw against West Brom ahead of Europa League final
BIRMINGHAM, England — Liverpool’s final Premier League game in a turbulent season ended in a 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
West Brom took the lead early on at The Hawthorns through Salomon Rondon. The Venezuelan striker struck in the 13th minute after a neat assist from 17-year-old Jonathan Leko.
Liverpool equalized 10 minutes later with Jordan Ibe scoring his first league goal of the season following a fine solo run and finish.
Liverpool finishes a disappointing domestic season in eighth place but is looking to Wednesday’s Europa League final against Sevilla as its opportunity to claim European football next season.
West Brom finished 14th.
Everton beats Norwich 3-0 in 1st game after firing Martinez
LIVERPOOL, England — Everton put the firing of manager Roberto Martinez out of its mind as the Toffees beat already relegated Norwich 3-0 in the last round of the English Premier League season.
Everton opened the scoring in the 19th minute through James McCarthy with a superb 20-yard (meter) finish, following Kieran Dowell’s assist.
A penalty from Leighton Baines on the stroke of halftime, followed by Kevin Mirallas’ strike just after the break, cemented an easy win for Everton.
Despite this impressive performance, Everton finishes in 11th place, far below pre-season expectations. It will now begin the task of appointing a new manager before next season, with Dutchmen Frank de Boer and Southampton manager Ronald Koeman being linked with the job.
Norwich finished 19th.
Southampton beats Palace 4-1, into Europa League
SOUTHAMPTON, England — Southampton qualified for the Europa League and could finish the English Premier League as high as fifth place after beating Crystal Palace 4-1 in the final round of the season Sunday.
Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle, Ryan Bertrand — with a penalty — and Steven Davis all scored for Southampton. Jason Puncheon grabbed the lone reply, making it 2-1 in the 64th minute, with Palace perhaps having their minds on Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.
Southampton moved onto 63 points — the same as Man United, but with a superior goal difference of 6. United still has to play its last game as a planned match against Bournemouth on Saturday was postponed because of a bomb scare at Old Trafford.
It’s Southampton’s highest points total in the Premier League.
