Manchester City became Premier League champions after Arsenal lost 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, who secured their top-flight status in style.
The Gunners, who were insatiable for most of the campaign, had spent 248 days on top of the table and held an eight-point lead over City in March, but an alarming slide saw them overtaken by Pep Guardiola’s relentless juggernaut.
And Taiwo Awoniyi’s first-half goal for Forest at a raucous City Ground ensured Guardiola’s side will lift the title for a fifth time in six seasons with three games to spare.
City’s champagne has been on ice for a couple of weeks as the Gunners, who also wilted badly at the end of last campaign, have won just two of their last eight Premier League games. However, they are confirmed runners-up going into their final game of the season next week.
For Forest, this was a real red letter day as they secured their survival against the odds.
For large parts of the season, which began with more than 20 new signings, they looked destined to return straight back to the Championship, not least when they were on an 11-game winless run going into the end of April.
But Awoniyi’s hot streak, with five goals in three games, helped Steve Cooper’s side lift themselves out of the bottom three and they can no longer be caught by Southampton, Leicester or Everton.
It completes an impressive job by Cooper, who repaid Forest for the faith they showed when backing him amid their poor run, and his stock continues to rise.
Everton’s draw at Wolves earlier in the day meant Forest came into the game knowing a win would guarantee their safety.
And backed by a vociferous home crowd, desperate to see their side secure survival at the place where they have won so many of their points this season, they made a strong start as Arsenal’s defence survived some early pressure.
The Gunners began to assert some level of control and Gabriel Jesus was denied by Forest goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who came out quickly to smother the ball, while the Brazilian nodded over at the far post.
But the City Ground exploded in the 19th minute as Forest punished their visitors with a lightning counter-attack.
Martin Odegaard loosely passed straight to Morgan Gibbs-White who surged forward at pace before feeding Awoniyi, who enjoyed a bit of fortune as Gabriel’s challenge bobbled against his leg and he scuffed past Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal had plenty of possession but lacked the creativity and guile to break Forest down in the first half, with Leandro Trossard and Jesus sending efforts tamely off target.
Forest vitally ensured they took their lead into the interval and could have doubled it soon after the restart.
After recycling a free-kick, Renan Lodi’s ball back in found Felipe and his shot from close range was blocked.
It was more of the same for the Gunners, who had plenty of the ball but did little with it. Bukayo Saka did have a moment of promise when he was played in but he fired straight at Navas.
Instead it was Forest who were pushing for a second and Gibbs-White squandered a good chance when he found the side-netting after taking advantage of Ben White’s slip, before Lodi drilled wide.
As the game entered the final 15 minutes with the holy grail of survival in touching distance, Forest began to sit deep and invite pressure on themselves.
It is unsurprising that nerves were so fraught as no side have conceded more goals in the final 15 minutes of matches than Forest’s 17 and every tackle, block and clearance was greeted with cheers as loud as a goal.
Gibbs-White fired straight at Ramsdale as Forest looked to make it a less tense ending for them, but Arsenal’s poor attacking display meant they were able to hold on to spark mass scenes of celebration.
Ten Hag sees positives from Man Utd's season as he vows to bring FA Cup back to Old Trafford
Erik ten Hag is taking the positives from Manchester United's season, as he aims to win the FA Cup.
United have endured a difficult campaign, though they kept their European qualification hopes alive by beating Newcastle United 3-2 on Wednesday at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag took the microphone to speak to the fans after full-time, saying: "You are the best supporters in the world. Thanks for your support.
"I promise you that those players will give everything to get the cup and bring it to Old Trafford."
United face rivals Manchester City at Wembley on May 25, and speaking to reporters, Ten Hag – whose future is uncertain – sees no reason not to take some positives from the campaign.
"I see the positives, I see that this team is developing, I know the reasons why we are not performing," Ten Hag said.
"No team will perform when the whole back four is not available, across the season.
"Even striker Rasmus Hojlund, three times injured, [Marcus] Rashford, also injured, so we have had our problems across the season and that has a negative impact on the results.
"You see players performing and you see players progressing like the youngsters and that is very positive, there is a high potential in this club.
"So, there are also many positives in this season, but I can't mention this. You know why. At the end of the day, we have to win trophies. And in the Premier League, and in the Champions League, we didn't perform what people expect from us."
United sit eighth on 57 points, level with Newcastle but three behind sixth-placed Chelsea. The Red Devils face Brighton in their final game of the season on Sunday.
Getafe 0-3 Atletico Madrid: Griezmann treble seals Champions League qualification
Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 LaLiga win at Getafe on Wednesday as Diego Simeone's side sealed Champions League qualification.
The France star opened the scoring in the 27th minute from Rodrigo De Paul's throughball and had his second shortly before half-time, flicking Samuel Lino's pinpoint pass past Getafe goalkeeper David Soria.
Griezmann completed his hat-trick in the 51st minute with a fine finish under Soria's legs, with Lino claiming his second assist by playing Los Colchoneros' all-time leading scorer into the area.
It was Griezmann's second hat-trick of the season, after he also netted three times in a 3-0 win at Celta Vigo last October.
With two games remaining, Simeone's side are now on 73 points in fourth, 11 ahead of fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao, who lost 2-1 against Celta Vigo on Wednesday.
Data Debrief: Griezmann repeats the trick
Griezmann is the only player to score two hat-tricks in LaLiga this season, and the only player to net a treble with all three goals coming on his left foot.
He might need to go even further to put himself in Golden Boot contention, though, with his 16 goals for this term putting him behind Artem Dovbyk (20), Jude Bellingham, Alexander Sorloth (both 19) and Robert Lewandowski (17).
Fernandes looking for strong finish to Man Utd's season
Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United must "finish the season in the best way" following their 3-2 win over Newcastle United.
The United youngsters played starring roles, with Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo and Rasmus Hojlund getting all three goals to close the gap to Newcastle in the table.
Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall both netted for the Magpies, with the latter setting up a nervy finish with his stoppage-time effort, but their lack of clinical edge meant United earned all three points.
Erik ten Hag’s side avoided a third consecutive defeat, and what would have been a record-breaking 10th home loss of the season, and Fernandes insists they must find a way to finish positively.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the United captain said: "Obviously the job isn’t finished yet. We still have one game in the Premier League, then the biggest game of the season, the FA Cup final.
"It has been a tough season. The table shows that, and we are all aware of that. The fans have been amazing and behind us all season. We all appreciate what they have been doing for us.
"We want to do better and do differently. They [fans] have been amazing for us, and we had to do something. We have been trying, but results don’t show that. We have been working hard and everyone has been giving their best. It is not enough, and we have to do more.
"We still have two games to go, and we have to finish in the best way.
"It doesn’t exist, a captain's performance, it is a team performance. I am no different from anyone just because I have the armband. I always try my best, and we always do the best we can for the club – nobody hides that we play for a big club, and we have to lift our standards every game."
Despite returning to winning ways, United have now conceded 58 Premier League goals this season, their most across a single campaign in the competition.
Ten Hag was keen to turn the focus away from their struggling defence and onto the attacking players instead.
"Fantastic. Great goals. But it was a team effort how we made the goals. But I'm always happy at young players who are progressing very good and scored some brilliant goals," he told BBC Sport.
"Newcastle have a lot of physical power, and you have to match that, but you also have to play football. We had found the really good balance in this.
"It's always nice to win any game. It's important to win the last game at Old Trafford this season. The fans deserve this because they've had difficult times and always stayed with us.
"We are here together. We wanted to pay the fans back."
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