Manchester City's captain Vincent Kompany (C) surrounded by team members, lifts the English Premier League trophy after beating Queens Park Rangers at the Ettihad Stadium in Manchester Sunday. — AP LONDON – Manchester City secured a first English title in 44 years in extraordinary circumstances Sunday as stoppage-time goals from Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero snatched a 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers to deny Manchester United another championship. In a breathless, tension-wracked finale to one of the most dramatic and unpredictable seasons for decades, United's 1-0 win at Sunderland seemed to have sealed its 20th title but with the final whistle blown at the Stadium of Light, City produced a last twist. In the second of five minutes of stoppage time, substitute Dzeko rose to head City level against a QPR side which had struck twice after the break despite losing former City midfielder Joey Barton to a red card for elbowing Carlos Tevez. With just a minute of the season remaining, Aguero roared into the area to dispatch a right-foot shot past the diving Paddy Kenny for his 23rd league goal and the most precious of the 93 amassed by Roberto Mancini's City throughout the campaign. Both United and City finished on 89 points but City's superior goal difference of eight proved decisive as the English title was settled on goals, rather than points, for only the sixth time and the first since Arsenal edged out Liverpool on the final day of the 1988-89 season. Captain and central defensive rock Vincent Kompany, a 6 million pounds ($9.7 million) bargain in the estimated half a billion pounds invested on players since Abu Dhabi's Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan bought City in 2008, shared the feelings of most of the 48,000 fans witnessing an afternoon of high drama. “I want to say it is the best moment of my life but if I'm honest then I would say please never again this way,” he said. There was heartbreak for Bolton Wanderers who drew 2-2 at Stoke City and were relegated long with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers. Victory would have earned them another season in the top flight but instead QPR survived to make sure all last season's promoted sides live to fight another campaign amongst the elite. Arsenal claimed third spot and a Champions League place beating West Bromwich Albion 3-2 at the Hawthorns. Tottenham Hotspur sealed fourth place, and a possible Champions League qualifying tie, after beating Fulham 2-0 while Newcastle United finished fifth after losing 3-1 at Everton. Other results: Chelsea 2 Blackburn Rovers 1; Norwich City 2 Aston Villa 0; Swansea City 1 Liverpool 0; Wigan Athletic 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2.
