Birmingham City, the Carling Cup winners, slumped out of the Premier League today as Blackpool went down in a blaze of glory at Old Trafford.
On a dramatic final day in which the situation changed over and over again, Blues' 2-1 defeat at Tottenham condemned them to Championship football next season, when they will also play in the Europa League.
They will be joined by Blackpool, who led 2-1 at Old Trafford before being overwhelmed by Manchester United in the latter stages to slip to a 4-2 defeat.
It meant Wolves stayed up, despite losing 3-2 at home to Blackburn, while Wigan's 1-0 win at Stoke was more than enough.
Blues looked safe at half-time at White Hart Lane, but when Roman Pavlyuchenko put Tottenham ahead with a sweet curling effort four minutes after the break, they slipped provisionally into the drop zone.
Craig Gardner levelled from 25 yards 11 minutes from time, but with Wolves mounting a comeback at Molineux, they needed a winner and it would not come, with Pavlyuchenko putting the final nail in their coffin in stoppage time.
At Old Trafford, things looked bleak for Blackpool when Park Ji-sung put United ahead after 21 minutes following good work by Dimitar Berbatov, but Charlie Adam levelled with a trademark free-kick five minutes before the interval.
Gary Taylor-Fletcher put Blackpool into an unlikely lead in the 57th minute with a cheeky flick, but Anderson swept the ball home to restore parity five minutes later and Blackpool were back in the drop zone when Ian Evatt turned Chris Smalling's cross into his own net in the 74th minute.
And it was all over when substitute Michael Owen finished neatly in the 81st minute.
It all meant Wolves, who looked out of it for much of the afternoon having gone 3-0 down against Blackburn, were safe.
Rovers' first came after 22 minutes when Michel Salgado's shot was turned in by Jason Roberts and the home crowd were silent when Brett Emerton volleyed in his second in two games seven minutes before the break.
It got still worse for Wolves when Junior Hoilett cut inside and sent a low shot home on the brink of half-time, but Jamie O'Hara pulled one back from a well-worked free-kick in the 73rd minute.
And when Stephen Hunt curled in the most delicate of finishes in the 87th minute, Wolves were out of the drop zone, at the expense of Birmingham, on goals scored.
Pavlyuchenko's winner at White Hart Lane confirmed Wolves' safety.
At the Britannia Wigan could have been dead and buried by half-time as Jon Walters had an early effort correctly ruled out for offside, while Emmerson Boyce cleared Kenwyne Jones' attempt off the line.
But Hugo Rodallega headed Wigan in front in the 78th minute and that was more than enough.
Scores
Aston Villa 1 (Downing 33) Liverpool 0
Bolton 0 Man City 2 (Lescott 43, Dzeko 62)
Everton 1 (Beckford 74) Chelsea 0
Fulham 2 (Sidwell 26, Zamora 57) Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 29, Walcott 89)
Man Utd 4 (Park 21, Anderson 63, Evatt 74-og, Owen 81) Blackpool 2 (Adam 40, Taylor-Fletcher 57)
Newcastle 3 (Taylor 16, Lovenkrands 39, Olsson 47-og) West Brom 3 (Tchoyi 62, 71, 90)
Stoke 0 Wigan 1 (Rodallega 78)
Tottenham 2 (Pavlyuchenko 49, 90) Birmingham 1 (Gardner 79)
West Ham 0 Sunderland 3 (Zenden 17, Sessegnon 51, Riveros 90)
Wolves 2 (O'Hara 73, Hunt 87) Blackburn 3 (Roberts 22, Emerton 38, Hoilett 45)?
