Cardiff follow promotion with Championship title

Cardiff City drew 1-1 at Burnley on Saturday to ensure they returned to the top flight of English soccer as winners of the English Championship (second division) after securing promotion earlier in the week.

Craig Conway put the Welsh club ahead after 27 minutes at Turf Moor before David Edgar equalised for the home side with a thumping header in the dying minutes.

The point moved Cardiff into an unassailable seven-point lead over second-placed Hull City with only two matches remaining.

Cardiff, who drew 0-0 with Charlton on Tuesday to ensure their return to the top flight after a 51-year absence, went ahead after a counter-attack when Kim Bo-kyung threaded a pass through to Conway, who worked the ball on to his right foot and curled it home.

Edgar's goal moved Burnley on to 55 points and virtual safety in the tight battle to avoid relegation.

Hull moved a step closer to a return to the Premier League after being relegated three years ago when they drew 0-0 against already-relegated Bristol City on Friday.

They would have been assured of automatic promotion behind Cardiff if third-placed Watford had lost at home to Blackburn Rovers but Watford coach Gianfranco Zola saw his side win 4-0 to keep alive their automatic promotion hopes.

With two matches to play, Cardiff have 85 points, Hull 78 and Watford 74.

The three other teams in the playoff places behind Watford are Brighton (69), Crystal Palace (67) and Bolton Wanderers (66) with Brighton underlining their credentials for a return to the top flight for the first time since 1983 with a 6-1 demolition of Blackpool.

Huddersfield Town improved their chances of avoiding the drop by beating Millwall 3-0 but Wolverhampton Wanderers, relegated from the Premier League last season, are in danger of a second successive drop.

They lost 2-1 to a late goal at Charlton Athletic and are mired in trouble in the relegation zone.

Bristol City (41 points) are already down, but the 10 teams above them, mathematically at least, are all in danger with Peterborough (51), Wolves (51) and Barnsley (51) under the biggest threat.

Blackburn, who went down from the Premier League last season with Wolves, are only just above the drop zone on 53 points.

Arsenal beat Fulham to strengthen Champions League chances

Arsenal strengthened their chances of a third place-finish and a spot in the Champions League next season when they beat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage in the Premier League on Saturday.

German Per Mertesacker headed the only goal two minutes before halftime against a Fulham side reduced to 10 men after 12 minutes when Steve Sidwell, returning from suspension, was sent off again.

Arsenal also finished with 10 men after Olivier Giroud was sent off just before the final whistle.

With runaway leaders Manchester United (81 points) second-placed Manchester City (68), fourth-placed Chelsea (61) and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur (58) not playing, Arsenal took advantage to move above Chelsea on 63 points.

The only other match to impact at the top was Sunderland's 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light over sixth-placed Everton whose slim hopes of finishing in the top four look over.

They remain on 56 points. Sunderland's second win under new boss Paolo Di Canio took them six points clear of the relegation zone.

It was a bad day for the bottom three who all lost to move a step nearer the relegation trapdoor.

Bottom-club Reading (24) lost 2-1 at Norwich City, while Queens Park Rangers (24) were beaten 2-0 at Loftus Road by Stoke City (37) who moved six points clear of danger.

QPR and Reading will be relegated on Monday if Aston Villa (34) score an unlikely win at Manchester United.

Wigan Athletic, who reached the FA Cup final for the first time last weekend, lost 2-0 at West Ham United and are deep in trouble in 18th place on 31 points, three behind Villa.

In the day's other games, Swansea and Southampton drew 0-0 and West Bromwich Albion drew 1-1 with Newcastle United, who also moved on to 37 points

Suarez shows his ugly side once again

The good, the bad and the ugly sides of Luis Suarez were on show again on Sunday as the Liverpool striker bit the arm of a Chelsea defender before scoring a late equalier to rescue a 2-2 draw for his team.

Television replays showed Suarez sink his teeth into the forearm of Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic as they tussled for the ball in the penalty area with Liverpool trailing 2-1 in the Premier League game.

Referee Kevin Friend appeared not to see the 66th-minute incident but Suarez - who once served a seven-match ban for biting an opponent in the Netherlands while with Ajax - faces a suspension once his moment of madness is reviewed.

The Football Association confirmed it would begin an investigation on Monday morning, beginning with talking to Friend to find out whether he had witnessed the incident.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers and Chelsea's interim boss Rafa Benitez were reluctant to talk about it, but Suarez's action was condemned by pundits, including former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness.

"I'm not sure what to make of it," Souness told Sky Sports. "Embarrassing. He's making it very difficult for himself to stay at Liverpool, that puts him in the last-chance saloon.

"Most important is safeguarding the good name of the football club. Liverpool are world renowned. People will be talking about this for a long, long time, and it will show Liverpool in a very bad light.

"This is not the first time he has bitten someone in the football match.

"There are lines you just can't cross, and he has crossed it today. Those pictures will be beamed across the world. It's very difficult for Brendan Rodgers to defend him."

Fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp, another former Liverpool player, added: "He obviously has a big problem. He has that madness gene in him, and what he did today was indefensible.

"What is he doing? Why would you want to take a chunk out of someone's arm on a football field?"

POIGNANT TIME

Controversy has followed Suarez since he joined Liverpool from Ajax in January 2011, but the latest incident comes at a particularly poignant time for Liverpool, close to the anniversary of the Hillsbrough tragedy in which 96 of their fans were crushed to death at a 1989 FA Cup semi-final.

Suarez served an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra last season and later angered United manager Alex Ferguson by failing to shake the French defender's hand before their league match in February last year.

The 26-year-old has also regularly been accused of diving and this season hit the headlines for scoring a goal in the FA Cup against minor-league Mansfield after committing a handball.

Yet despite the baggage, Suarez has been one of the best strikers to grace the Premier League.

His headed equaliser against Chelsea was his 23rd Premier League goal of the season, taking him two clear of Robin van Persie in the scoring charts.

He is in the running to win the PFA Player of the Year award, making a six-man shortlist for the prestigious prize.

On Sunday his brilliance was there for all to see.

The cross that allowed Daniel Sturridge to equalise was inch-perfect, and the way he dispatched his late header past Petr Cech showed the mark of a world-class striker.

Yet in the same match he gave away a penalty with a handball before showing his dark side with the Mike Tyson-esque chomp on Ivanovic's arm.

"The only comment at this stage is that we'll review the video of (the incident), then I'll make a comment after," Rodgers, who has stood by Suarez, said.

He added on Liverpool's website: "This is a club with incredible values and ethics here. We'll review it as a club, because there's certainly no one bigger than this football club, a player or manager."

"I have just come in from the game. Once I've looked at that and reviewed it we'll make a comment then. Until I review it I can't speak totally on it."

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said after the game that Suarez was "the third best player in the world behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo", but the club's former defender Mark Lawrenson, now a BBC pundit, said the Uruguayan's talent came with a price.

"He's a world-class player but he gives you world-class trouble," he said.

"If the Football Association decide to take retrospective action, and it's clearcut, then Suarez will be in big trouble."