Defeat leaves Arsenal sweating on third spot

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-05-04 09:40

LONDON, May 3 - Arsenal's miserable end to the season continued with a 2-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers on Monday, leaving them still short of securing third place in the Premier League.

Defeat leaves Arsenal sweating on third spot

Blackburn Rovers' David Dunn (C) celebrates scoring against Arsenal during their English Premier League soccer match in Blackburn, northern England, May 3, 2010. [Agencies]

A point for the Gunners would have guaranteed third and an automatic place in next season's Champions League group stage but after Robin van Persie put them ahead they were overhauled by a fired-up Rovers.

Arsenal have 72 points with just Fulham to play at home on Sunday while fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur have 67 with Wednesday's crucial trip to direct rivals Manchester City and a final day visit to relegated Burnley to come.

At the other end of the table Hull City's relegation was rubber-stamped when Wigan Athletic equalised in stoppage time to deny the visitors their first away league win of the season.

The 2-2 draw, courtesy of an equaliser by Steve Gohouri, means Hull are five points behind 17th-placed West Ham United with one game to play, though even a win would have been futile as their vastly inferior goal difference would have counted against them even if they had matched the London club on points.

Hull will go down to the Championship (second division) next season along with Burnley and Portsmouth, having lasted two years in the top flight.

Since beating West Ham on March 20, Arsenal have managed just a stoppage time victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in their subsequent eight matches as their Premier League and Champions League hopes evaporated.

Finishing outside the top three would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago when Arsenal still harboured genuine hopes of ending their five-year wait for a trophy but they could face a jittery final day at home to Europa League finalists Fulham.

Van Persie gave Arsenal an early lead, heading in a corner.

Rovers levelled through David Dunn's tap-in shortly before halftime and Chris Samba beat Lukasz Fabianski with another header midway through the second half to seal victory for mid-table Rovers.