BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE (FINAL)

POS		LP	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1		(1)	Manchester City	38	28	5	5	93	29	64	89
2		(2)	Manchester United	38	28	5	5	89	33	56	89
3		(3)	Arsenal	38	21	7	10	74	49	25	70
4		(4)	Tottenham Hotspur	38	20	9	9	66	41	25	69
5		(5)	Newcastle United	38	19	8	11	56	51	5	65
6		(6)	Chelsea	38	18	10	10	65	46	19	64
7		(7)	Everton	38	15	11	12	50	40	10	56
8		(8)	Liverpool	38	14	10	14	47	40	7	52
9		(9)	Fulham	38	14	10	14	48	51	-3	52
10		(10)	West Bromwich Albion	38	13	8	17	45	52	-7	47
11		(12)	Swansea City	38	12	11	15	44	51	-7	47
12		(13)	Norwich City	38	12	11	15	52	66	-14	47
13		(11)	Sunderland	38	11	12	15	45	46	-1	45
14		(14)	Stoke City	38	11	12	15	36	53	-17	45
15		(15)	Wigan Athletic	38	11	10	17	42	62	-20	43
16		(16)	Aston Villa	38	7	17	14	37	53	-16	38
17		(17)	Queens Park Rangers	38	10	7	21	43	66	-23	37
18		(18)	Bolton Wanderers	38	10	6	22	46	77	-31	36
19		(19)	Blackburn Rovers	38	8	7	23	48	78	-30	31
20		(20)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	38	5	10	23	40	82	-42	25
POS		LP	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS

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Man City: 1st EPL title since '68

MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester City won the English title for the first time in 44 years, surging past Queens Park Rangers 3-2 on Sunday with Sergio Aguero scoring his team's second goal late in stoppage time.

Aguero, the son-in-law of Argentine great Diego Maradona, scored during the fourth minute of injury time, two minutes after substitute Edin Dzeko made it 2-2. The winning goal snatched the trophy from defending champion Manchester United on goal difference. Without Aguero's startling goal, United would have won the title after its 1-0 victory over Sunderland moments earlier on the final day of the season.

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"I don't think I've ever seen a finale like this," City manager Roberto Mancini said. "We didn't deserve to lose. We had a lot of chances and we deserved to win the game and championship. It's fantastic for the club and the supporters after 44 years. It's been a crazy season and a crazy last minute."

It was the first time the English title was decided in such dramatic circumstances since 1989, when Arsenal and Liverpool finished even on points and had the same goal difference. Arsenal won the title on total goals.

"It's a cruel way (to lose the title)," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. "We've experienced many ups and downs in the 25 years I've been here, most of them have been great, we've won the title three times on the last day, today we nearly did it.

"I'd like to say on behalf of Manchester United, congratulations to our neighbors -- a fantastic achievement to win the Premier League."

City won the title for the first time since 1968 after overturning the eight-point lead United held five weeks ago. The two Manchester rivals have traded places atop the standings all season, and continued to do so until the final minutes of the final day.

City took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but then went down 2-1 after the break despite QPR captain Joey Barton being sent off in the 55th, leaving his team with 10 men the rest of the way.

"I never stopped believing," City captain Vincent Kompany said. "When Edin scored that goal, it reminded me of so many other moments during the season when we've done this before. There was no reason not to believe.

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Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty ImagesSergio Aguero is mobbed by his Manchester City teammates after scoring the eventual winning goal.

"It's not sunk in yet. I don't know what happened at the end, it was just a huge mess."

Pablo Zabaleta put City in front in the 39th minute, but Djibril Cisse tied it for QPR three minutes into the second half after a misplay by Joleon Lescott. Lescott went to make a simple headed clearance but instead knocked the ball backward, and Cisse seized on the defender's mistake by driving a shot past Joe Hart.

Barton was then sent off for elbowingCarlos Tevez, but Jamie Mackie managed to head the visitors in front in the 66th.

City's expensively assembled squad had been facing its first loss at home since December 2010, but Dzeko sparked the recovery by heading in a corner kick in the second minute of stoppage time.

There was still time for one final moment of drama in an unpredictable season when Aguero drove home the winner. As the final whistle blew, thousands of City fans poured onto the field and blue smoke wafted around the stadium.

Winning the title is the result of more than a $1 billion of investment by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour, who rescued a financially stricken club from ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2008.

"It was really important to start winning this championship," Mancini said. "Manchester City can have a big future now."

The field was covered in confetti from the start and all the action was in QPR's half, although the hosts couldn't find the goal against a relegation-threatened club.

Yaya Toure fired over and David Silva struck tamely at goalkeeper Paddy Kenny before news filtered through of Wayne Rooney putting 19-time champion United ahead at Sunderland and top of the standings.

QPR hasn't won on the road since December, but it wasn't all bad news for the London club -- it avoided relegation after Bolton was held to a 2-2 draw at Stoke.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Manchester City Win English Premier League

LONDON - There has been an inevitability about Manchester City's journey to the Premier League title since Abu Dhabi petro-dollars began flooding into the club in 2008 but they still required a steady hand at the tiller to navigate them to glory through one of the most unpredictable seasons for decades.

Roberto Mancini was appointed in December 2009 as the man to realize the dream, knocking cross-town rivals Manchester United off their perch, and the former Inter Milan coach proved himself equal to whatever the job threw his way.

Since taking over from the sacked Mark Hughes, Italian Mancini has endured the initial disappointment of failing to qualify for the Champions League in 2010, suffered criticism over his style of football and even quelled mutiny within the ranks.

Importantly, however, even when making a disappointing group stage exit on their Champions League debut this season, there has been no sense of panic at the top.

More than 400 million pounds ($643.88 million) has been spent on players since Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought City as, first under Hughes, they began assembling a squad that is the envy of almost every club in world football.

There is a price to pay, though, for the man in charge of such a shopping list and caressing the egos of enormously well-paid footballers week in and week out has often proved the undoing of many high-calibre managers in the Premier League.

Initially, City's detractors said they were a bunch of individuals, lacking the required team bond that has been the hallmark of United and Chelsea in the past decade.

Alarm bells

When Carlos Tevez refused to warm-up as a substitute in a Champions League clash with Bayern Munich last September, an act which sparked a high-profile stand-off between striker and manager, the alarm bells were ringing again.

Mario Balotelli's volatile behavior on and off the field, including an incident in which his apartment caught light after fireworks were set off inside, also tested Mancini's resolve, as did a post-Christmas dip in away form that let United back in the hunt.

Mancini never took his eye off the ball, however, and his biggest success has been instilling a togetherness and harmony while also managing the expectations of the fans, many of whom still appear giddy at their club's recent rise from the shadows rather than arrogantly expecting silverware.

Despite setting a hot pace for the first half of the season, when they thrashed United 6-1 at Old Trafford, City's age old ability to shoot themselves in the foot appeared to have returned and they trailed United by eight points with six matches to go after a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on April 8 (April 9, PHL time).

Ironically it was that loss that galvanized the squad and at the same time released the pressure that had been building.

Since then City have been ruthless.

As United wobbled badly, City's five-match winning streak, including a 1-0 home victory over their title rivals, put them on the brink of winning the championship.

On Sunday (Monday, PHL time) they claimed their first English title in 44 years in barely believable circumstances as stoppage time goals from Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero snatched a 3-2 home victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Throughout a wildly fluctuating Premier League season, among the most exciting in its 20-year existence, one of the constants has been City's reliability.

Home fortress

Like any self-respecting Italian manager Mancini spent the early part of his tenure making his team hard to beat, impossibly so this at the Etihad Stadium where they won 18 and drew one of their 19 league matches.

That stability was based on the rock-like defending of skipper Vincent Kompany and the emergence of Joleon Lescott as his number one central defensive partner.

With goalkeeper Jo Hart rubber-stamping his England No.1 status, and Yaya Toure a formidable presence in the midfield engine room, City have been able to unleash their attacking threat to the maximum, much of it instigated by the brilliance of Spanish playmaker David Silva.

Up front, Aguero has proved a class act, netting 23 league goals while in support Balotelli, despite his erratic behavior, and Dzeko also reached double figures, scoring some vital goals.

While some may scoff at Mancini's achievement in finally bringing City out of the shadow of their illustrious neighbors, pointing to the vast wealth at his disposal, he has repaid the faith of the owners to the full.

United manager Alex Ferguson, whose mind games have failed to rattle Mancini in the title run in, once said the first of his 12 titles with United was the hardest to win.

Since that breakthrough he has produced a succession of sides all blessed with an inner belief that generally allows them to prevail when the going gets tough.

That is exactly what City did this season and now they have reached the top they may take some shifting.  - Reuters

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