Emphatic Chelsea finale

LONDON (AP):

Chelsea regained the English Premier League title from Manchester United with a 8-0 victory over Wigan yesterday with Didier Drogba scoring three times.

Even though United finished the campaign with a 4-0 victory over Stoke at Old Trafford, the big celebrations were at Stamford Bridge where the goals by Drogba, two by Nicolas Anelka and one each by Frank Lampard, Salomon Kalou and Ashley Cole left Chelsea champions by one point in manager Carlo Ancelotti's first season in English football.

It is Chelsea's third league title in six years - the others being under Jose Mourinho in 2005 and '06 - and the result means they prevented United becoming the first team to win the English title four years in a row.

"After 1-0 today that was the first time I thought, 'Yes, that's ours'," said Chelsea captain John Terry, whose private life brought distracting headlines to the club and led to him losing the England captaincy.

"Forget everything else, this is about Chelsea Football Club and our day today," Terry said. "It has been a hard three years not winning the Premiership and today we deserved it. It's been hurting inside of me for three years, seeing Man United lifting it season after season."

high hopes

Now Ancelotti hopes to complete Chelsea's first league and FA Cup double by beating Portsmouth in Saturday's final at Wembley.

"There are a lot of things we're happy about," said the former AC Milan coach.

"We're happy for this record, for Didier being the top scorer. But the most important thing is that we showed some good play.

"Mourinho did some fantastic work and won two titles consecutively. This is my first and I hope to do the same as Mourinho. Now we have the opportunity to win the double and I hope that my players can after these celebrations."

Chelsea went into the final round one point ahead of United after a see-sawing season, and Anelka fired Ancelotti's team into a sixth-minute lead.

Although Darren Fletcher put United a goal up at Old Trafford in the 31st, within a minute it was 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Lampard scored from the penalty spot for his 22nd league goal of the season after he had been brought down by Gary Caldwell. The Scottish defender was also sent off for the challenge, which made United's hopes of a Wigan comeback even slimmer.

SMOKE BOMB

Ryan Giggs scored a second for United before half-time but the goal celebrations were muted. News of further Chelsea goals by Salomon Kalou, Anelka, Drogba and Ashley Cole made the atmosphere worse at Old Trafford, with United's fans turning their attention to chanting their opposition to the club's ownership by Malcolm Glazer and his family.

Outside Old Trafford before the game, fans let off at least one smoke bomb in protest at the Glazers, who have landed the club with an enormous debt to finance their purchase of the club.

United manager Alex Ferguson saluted Ancelotti for his achievement.

"When we heard Wigan were down to 10 men, our hopes evaporated then," Ferguson said. "We know how difficult it is to win the Premier League and that's why we congratulate Carlo Ancelotti and his team.

"It's a great achievement to beat Manchester United. Losing this title makes you appreciate the achievement of winning the last three and also getting so near. We've got to try again."

Drogba finished the campaign as leading scorer with 29 goals, three more than long-time leader Wayne Rooney, who failed to hit the target for Man United against Stoke and limped off the field with an injury.

It was the fourth time this season Chelsea have hit at least seven goals, the other victims being Sunderland, Aston Villa and Stoke.

ARSENAL THIRD

Arsenal made sure of finishing third ahead of north London neighbours Tottenham, with a 4-0 victory over a weakened Fulham side, which is headed for Wednesday's Europa League final against Atletico Madrid in Hamburg.

Andrei Arshavin, Robin van Persie and an own goal by Fulham's Chris Board put Arsenal in control by half-time, and Carlos Vela later added a fourth.

The victory means that Arsene Wenger's team, which has failed to win a trophy for the fifth season in a row, will now go straight into the group phase of the Champions League.

Tottenham threw away a two-goal lead after early strikes by Gareth Bale and Luka Modric to lose 4-2 at relegated Burnley and have to be satisfied with fourth place, their highest finish since placing third in 1990.

Another relegated side, Hull, held Liverpool to a 0-0 draw. Portsmouth, which finished last, conceded an injury-time winner to Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to lose 1-0 at Everton.

In yesterday's other games, Manchester City were held 1-1 at West Ham, Blackburn won 1-0 at Aston Villa, Bolton beat Birmingham 2-1 and Wolves edged Sunderland 2-1.

In the play-offs to decide the third team to gain promotion to the top flight, Peter Whittingham's 78th-minute free kick gave Cardiff a 1-0 victory at Leicester in the first leg. In the other semi-final, Blackpool lead Nottingham Forest 2-1.

Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion have already gained promotion from the League Champion-ship after finishing first and second.

Ferguson questions where it all went wrong

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Manchester United's failure to win an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title has left Alex Ferguson questioning whether the squad was strong enough following Cristiano Ronaldo's departure, or if tactical mistakes were made during the season.

United's three-year reign as champions ended yesterday despite beating Stoke 4-0, as Chelsea stayed a point ahead by routing Wigan 8-0.

So all Ferguson has to show for his 24th season in charge is the League Cup - won in March by beating Aston Villa - after losing to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.

assessment necessary

"Did I always make the right team selections with the appro-priate tactics? Do we have a strong enough squad?" Ferguson said in a rare moment of introspection. "I have to weigh up whether to move into the transfer market, considering our own youth development and the players we have.

"It's an assessment that has to be set against injuries, bad luck and, of course, the fact that there is a harder competitive edge in the Premier League these days. It's a tough old league, very unforgiving and a lot of the teams at the top have lost games they expected to win."

One of the most costly losses for United turned out to be their third match at newly promoted Burnley, which survived just one season in the Premier League. But Ferguson was still angry yesterday that the team lost 1-0 at Chelsea in November when John Terry headed home from a free kick that the manager disputed.

United managed to finish second despite reinvesting barely a quarter of the £80 million (US$118 million) Real Madrid paid for Ronaldo last June, while neighbours Manchester City finished fifth despite splurging more than £200 million.

"I always knew we would miss Cristiano Ronaldo," Ferguson said.

But the 68-year-old Scot ignored the loss of Carlos Tevez, the Argentina striker who defected to Man City last July and went on to score 29 goals.

That was 17 more than record United signing Dimitar Berbatov, with the languid Bulgarian failing to shine in his second season at Old Trafford.

Berbatov had to share second place on United's goalscoring leader board with "own-goals".

There was an over-reliance on Wayne Rooney - top scorer with 34 - who thrived in a more central role following Ronaldo's exit, but was plagued by injuries toward the end of the season.

rooney stepped up

"The way Wayne stepped up, not only to fill the gap but to demonstrate that he has taken his game to a new level, has been thrilling," Ferguson said. "Certainly, his contribution has been one of the upsides of our year."

Amid the despondency, Ferguson reminded fans to put United's hat-trick of titles in context. When he arrived in 1986, the team hadn't won the title in 20 years - a woeful run that ended in 1993.

"We have to measure the success against the disappointments and, taking everything into account, I think we are on the credit side," Ferguson said. "It's not complacency, just common sense to conclude that we have had a good season that has not been without its rewards. It could have been better, but overall we are finishing in good shape."

Top net finders

LONDON (AP): Leading scorers in the English Premier League after yesterday's final round of games: 29 - Didier Drogba, Chelsea; 26 - Wayne Rooney, Manchester United; 24 - Darren Bent, Sunderland; 23 - Carlos Tevez, Manchester City; 22 - Frank Lampard; 18 - Jermain Defoe, Tottenham, Fernando Torres, Liverpool; 15 - Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal; 14 - Emanuel Adebayor, Manchester City; 13 - Gabriel Agbonlahor, Aston Villa, Louis Saha, Everton; 12 - Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester United, Florent Malouda, Chelsea.

Standings

LONDON (AP): Standings in English Premier League football after yesterday's games:

Team GP W D L GF GA Pts

Chelsea 38 27 5 6 103 32 86

Man U 38 27 4 7 86 28 85

Arsenal 38 23 6 9 83 41 75

Tottenham 38 21 7 10 67 41 70

Man City 38 18 13 7 73 45 67

Aston Villa 38 17 13 8 52 39 64

Liverpool 38 18 9 11 61 35 63

Everton 38 16 13 9 60 49 61

Birmingham 38 13 11 14 38 47 50

Blackburn 38 13 11 14 41 55 50

Stoke 38 11 14 13 34 48 47

Fulham 38 12 10 16 39 46 46

Sunderland 38 11 11 16 48 56 44

Bolton 38 10 9 19 42 67 39

Wolves 38 9 11 18 32 56 38

Wigan 38 9 9 20 37 79 36

West Ham 38 8 11 19 47 66 35

Burnley 38 8 6 24 42 82 30

Hull 38 6 12 20 34 75 30

x-Portsmouth 38 7 7 24 34 66 19

x-deducted 9 points for financial problems