LONDON - Manchester City and Chelsea both secured their Champions League places with victories on the final day of the Premier League season and Newcastle United joined them despite stumbling to a defeat at home to Everton on Sunday.

Outgoing champions City, whose season has been one to forget, only really required a draw at Fulham but cruised to a 2-0 victory which meant they finished in third place.

Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, who began the day in fifth place - the last spot for Champions League qualification - won 1-0 at seventh-placed Nottingham Forest to finish fourth.

Newcastle will be breathing a sigh of relief as their 1-0 defeat by Everton could have opened the door for Aston Villa to climb above them. But Villa went down 2-0 at Manchester United to end in sixth place and take a spot in the Europa League.

Villa, who would have nudged out Newcastle with a draw, had goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez sent off when it was 0-0 and were furious at having a Morgan Rogers goal disallowed shortly before Amad Diallo gave the hosts the lead.

City ended up with 71 points, Chelsea on 69 and Newcastle on 66 points, the same as Villa, but with a better goal difference.

Villa will have to content themselves with a Europa League spot while Forest, who still had hopes of a top-five finish going into the last day, will go into the UEFA Conference League.

Champions Liverpool signed off a memorable campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Crystal Palace in a party atmosphere at Anfield with Mohamed Salah equalising after Ismaila Sarr had given FA Cup winners Palace an early lead.

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Salah's 84th-minute effort was his 29th league goal of the season to equal Andy Cole and Alan Shearer's record of 47 goal involvements in a Premier League campaign.

Runners-up Arsenal, who ended 10 points behind Liverpool, beat bottom club Southampton 2-1 away thanks to a late winner by captain Martin Odegaard. Southampton set an unwanted Premier League record of 30 defeats in a season.

Brighton and Hove Albion brought Europa League winners Tottenham Hotspur down to earth with a bump as they won 4-1 in north London to finish eighth, but that will not be good enough to secure a European berth for the south coast side next season.

Tottenham finished a woeful league season in 17th place, their worst performance since being relegated in 1977.

'Like a title'

Manchester City have failed to win a major trophy for the first time since 2017 but will take a crumb of comfort from qualifying for the Champions League for the 15th time in a row.

Ilkay Gundogan's overhead kick put them in front and an Erling Haaland penalty sealed the victory.

It is the first time City have finished outside the top two in the Premier League since the 2016-17 season.

"It's like a title, (because of) the obstacles," manager Pep Guardiola said.

Chelsea faced a daunting trip to Forest's City Ground but got the job done to put the club back into the Champions League for the first time in three seasons.

Levi Colwill broke the deadlock in the 50th minute when Forest defender Neco Williams struggled to head the ball clear and Pedro Neto was there to poke the ball across goal for Colwill to tap into the empty net.

It proved enough as Forest, who won only one of their last five games, struggled to find a reply.

Newcastle, who ended a 70-year domestic trophy drought by beating Liverpool to win the League Cup earlier in the season, went down to a Carlos Alcaraz goal at St James' Park.

They were spared though by Villa's result.

A final day largely devoid of drama had loads of it at Old Trafford as Villa missed out on a return to the Champions League after reaching the quarter-finals this season.

Villa's cause was not helped when Martinez charged out of his goal in first-half injury time and barged striker Rasmus Hojlund to the ground and was sent off.

Against the run of play, Rogers appeared to have netted Villa a crucial goal 18 minutes from time, but referee Thomas Bramall ruled that he had fouled United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir before slotting home.

Furious Villa's mood worsened after Diallo immediately headed the hosts in front down the other end, before Christian Eriksen's penalty, in his last game for United, ensured they ended a woeful season on a high.

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Ruben Amorim's side ended the season in 15th place, their lowest top-flight finish since they were relegated in 1974.

West Ham United finished one place ahead of United after ending a mediocre campaign with a 3-1 win at Ipswich Town.