Tottenham Hotspur 2 Birmingham City 1: Stinging the Blue

Blues looked set to maintain their Barclays Premier League status when lifelong Birmingham fan Craig Gardner equalised Roman Pavlyuchenko’s opener with a sublime strike in the 79th minute.

But Wolves’ second goal of their 3-2 defeat at Blackburn meant Birmingham needed to win to survive and as they surged forward in stoppage time, Pavlyuchenko raced up the other end and fired a 20-yard shot past Ben Foster that went in off the bar to seal the midlanders’ relegation.

The result, and Liverpool’s defeat at Aston Villa, means that Spurs will join Birmingham in the Europa League.

Questions will now be asked of Birmingham manager Alex McLeish’s future after his team’s form suffered a dramatic slump that started after February’s Carling Cup final win over Arsenal.

Owner Carson Yeung, who will make the decision of whether to dispense with the Scot or not, watched on as his side were ultimately despatched to the Championship.