LONDON: West Ham became the first team relegated from the Premier League this season after squandering a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Wigan Sunday. Needing to beat its fellow struggler to prolong a six-year stay in the top division, the Hammers were 2-0 up after 26 minutes through goals by Demba Ba. But Charles N'Zogbia started Wigan's comeback with a 57th-minute free kick and Conor Sammon equalized 11 minutes later with his first goal for the club. N'Zogbia then scored deep into injury time with a shot across goalkeeper Robert Green that went in at the far post. The defeat left West Ham bottom of the standings with 33 points, six fewer than Wigan, which now has a chance of avoiding the drop in next week's final round. Birmingham lost 2-0 to visiting Fulham in another of Sunday's five games. Arsenal is in danger of finishing fourth – matching its lowest finish since Arsene Wenger took over as manager in 1996 – after a 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa, Tottenham won 2-0 at Liverpool to move above its opponent into fifth place, and Chelsea drew 2-2 with Newcastle. Sampdoria relegated Sampdoria was relegated from Serie A after it lost 2-1 at home to Palermo Sunday and is now out of Italy's top flight for the first time since 2003. The Genoa-based team needed a win to survive until the final round of matches, but the loss combined with Lecce's 2-0 victory over Bari means Sampdoria is four points behind Lecce. Bari and Brescia were already relegated. Also Sunday, it was; Fiorentina 1, Bologna 1; Cesena 1, Brescia 0; Chievo Verona 0, Udinese 2; Parma 1, Juventus 0. AC Milan didn't disappoint its supporters as it celebrated the club's 18th league title before and during a 4-1 win over Cagliari Saturday. Ahead of the match, the team went on an open top bus ride through city streets thronged with supporters, before leading a procession to the San Siro. Ernie Walker dies Ernie Walker, who was secretary of the Scottish Football Association for over 15 years, has died, the SFA said Sunday. Walker helped oversee a rich period in Scotland's football history as they reached five major championship finals from the 1974 World Cup to the 1990 edition in Italy. He was also a key figure in the ‘Think Tank', a root-and-branch review of Scottish football undertaken with the help of the Dutch coaching legend, Rinus Michels, during that period. Lille bags French Cup Ludovic Obraniak scored with a last-minute free kick as Lille beat holder Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 to win the French Cup for the sixth time, ending a 56-year trophy drought and taking the first step toward a domestic double. Rangers keep title Rangers clinched a third straight Scottish league title by a single point Sunday with a 5-1 win at Kilmarnock on the last day of the season. Celtic needed its rival to draw or lose to have any chance of winning the championship, but Rangers scored three times in the first seven minutes to end all uncertainty and give manager Walter Smith victory in his final match in charge.
