LONDON — Aston Villa's long-expected relegation from the Premier League was finally confirmed with a 1-0 loss away to Manchester United Saturday as teenage rising star Marcus Rashford scored his seventh goal in 12 games.
The 18-year-old striker, also on target in United's FA Cup quarterfinal replay win over West Ham United in midweek, struck in the 32nd minute when he turned in Antonio Valencia's low cross.
Defeat left bottom-of-the-table Villa 15 points shy of safety with only a maximum of 12 on offer to the Birmingham club in its four remaining league matches this season.
Villa, under the caretaker charge of Eric Black after former manager Remi Garde was sacked last month, has won just three times in 34 league games this campaign and this latest loss saw it drop down to the second-tier of English football for the first time in 29 years.
United's victory saw it close on local rival Manchester City but manager Louis van Gaal criticized his side's display, saying: "I'm not too happy with the performance. We have to finish the games a lot earlier and today we didn't do that."
Saturday's late-kick-off then saw City pull four points clear of United and leapfrog Arsenal into third place, with Sergio Aguero scoring a hat trick in a 3-0 win away to fallen champion Chelsea that came just days after Manuel Pellegrini's men reached the semifinals of the Champions League.
Aguero finished a quick counter-attack to give City a 33rd-minute lead at Stamford Bridge and doubled its advantage early in the second half with another breakaway goal after good work by Kevin de Bruyne and Samir Nasri.
Such has been Chelsea's slump in form this season it is now 10th in the table and a bad day for the Blues got worse when goalkeeper Thibault Courtois was sent off late on for bringing down Fernandinho in the box when one-on-one with the Brazilian.
Argentina star Aguero completed his treble from the ensuing 80th-minute penalty.
Earlier, Sunderland gave itself hope of yet another escape from relegation, with a 3-0 win away to fellow struggler Norwich City.
Victory at Carrow Road left the north-east side still in the bottom three but just one point adrift of Norwich and with a game in hand over the Canaries.
Fabio Borini's first-half penalty and strikes from Jermain Defoe and Duncan Watmore after the interval saw Sunderland to a first win in seven matches.
The result was an understandable relief for Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce, who told the BBC: "The most pleasing thing of all was the clean sheet, that is our way forward with five games to go."
Newcastle United, Sunderland's north-east rivals, bolstered its hopes of top-flight survival with a 3-0 win at home to Swansea.
Jamaal Lascelles headed in Andros Townsend's corner four minutes before the break and Moussa Sissoko made the game safe for the Magpies eight minutes from time, as they marked manager Rafael Benitez's 56th birthday in style.
Townsend rounded off the scoring in the 89th minute.
Newcastle remained in the relegation zone but victory saw it move to within three points of Norwich.
Watford, promoted last season, cemented its place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win away to West Bromwich Albion, that saw goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes twice save penalties from Saido Berahino.
His first spot-kick stop came in the 66th minute after he had tripped Berahino and Gomes denied the striker again when, after a foul on Stephane Sessegnon, he dived low to his left to push another penalty effort past the post.
Gomes' saves helped Watford maintain a lead established through Ben Watson's 27th-minute goal at the Hawthorns.
Meanwhile, Southampton moved to within a point of a top six place after a 1-1 draw away to Everton.
Ramiro Funes Mori put Everton ahead in the 68th minute but the host’s lead lasted just eight minutes, with Sadio Mane equalizing for the Saints at Goodison Park.
