Today saw the big finale of the 2012-13 Premier League season. Although Manchester United had already lifted the title at their last home game of the season the day still had plenty to offer football fans everywhere. From Fergie's last day as the Man Utd manager to the 36 goals scored in the 10 final matches. Had four more goals been scored today, a new league record for goals scored in a single season could have been made; this is currently at 1,066, but todays goals only took this seasons total to 1,063.
The most exciting match of the day was not one that affected table positions or relegations, but was one that saw a grand total of 10 goals being scored, a hat-trick and the retirement of a legend. And all this took place at the Hawthorns, home of my own team, West Bromwich Albion. Although Man Utd started off strong, with a 3-0 lead, the Albion pulled one back before half-time. Coming out from the break 3-1 down, Lukaku pulled back another in the 50th minute of the game. Baggies fans then witnessed goals from Van Persie (53') and Hernandez (63'), to see them go 5-2 down; at this point annihilation was feared but Lukaku scored again in the 81st minute, closely followed by a goal from Mulumbu (81'). Lukaku completed his hat-trick in the 86th minute with the Baggies equaliser.
This was Fergie's 1,500th game in charge of Man Utd and fans from both sides applauded the legend, the man that is Sir Alex Ferguson.
Six goals were also scored at Upton Park with a second hat-trick of the day coming from West Ham's number 4, Kevin Nolan. Sam Allardyce's men went on to beat relegated Reading 4-2, helping them to finish 10th in the table.
The match at the Etihad saw the home team and runners up Manchester City lose 2-3 to 11th placed Norwich. After coming back into the game twice, Man City couldn't find a third goal to equalise in the last 25 minutes of the game.
Elsewhere in the Premier League Arsenal managed to grab themselves the final Champions League position with one goal at St James' Park. Newcastle dropped to 16th following the 0-1 loss to Arsenal, which saw Koscielny (52') score the one and only goal of the match.
Arsenal's competitors for the Champions League qualifying fourth position, Spurs also managed a 1-0 win in their final game. Bale scored the only goal against 10 man Sunderland, reiterating the important role he has played for the team this season.
Already relegated Wigan managed a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa as to avoid going out on a low note. Wigan were winning 2-1 at half-time but a 61 minute equaliser from Vlaar brought Villa the point needed and the extra goal to take them above Newcastle and into 15th position.
QPR, who finished the season on 25 points were propping up the rest of the table going into their game at Anfield. QPR could not finish the season anywhere other than 20th and proceeded to lose 1-0 to Liverpool with a goal in the 23rd minute from Coutinho. Today also saw the departure of Liverpool patriot Jamie Carragher who has played for the club for 16 years in which he has played 737 games.
Chelsea finished their season in third position with a 2-1 win at home against Everton. The fans at Stamford Bridge saw Torres score his 8th goal in the league for this season. After becoming Europa League winners during the week Rafael Benitez finished his managerial run at the club on a high.
Fulham travelled to the Liberty Stadium where they beat 9th place Swansea by three goals to nil. Goals from Kacaniklic, Berbatov and Emanuelson helped Fulham to victory.
The final match of the day saw a 1-1 draw at St Mary's. Going in at half-time 0-0 the games was anybodies. Crouch cam back out to give Stoke the lead in the 47th minute, to see his efforts equaled by Southampton's Lambert in the 57th minute. The match had very little effect on the table positions as Stoke finished in 13th on 42 points and Southampton finished in 14th on 41 points.
Overview
We say farewell to a man who has been a huge part of the football scene for the last 26 years, in which he won 38 trophies, 13 of which were English Premier League titles. Thank you and farewell Sir Alex Ferguson.
Todays' matches saw the most goals ever scored on the last day of a Premier season - the most previously was 34 in 2007-08.
We also see the final rankings of the 2012-13 season in the table; Man United winners, with Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal taking Champions League positions. We also say goodbye to relegated Wigan, Reading and QPR, who were all relegated before kick off today.
We now find ourselves looking at 90 Premier League free days before the 2013-14 season begins on August 17th. Now all we can do is wait for football news, transfer news and for the first whistle of the next season to provide us with the beginning of another action packed season of entertainment.
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