Reading, QPR relegated from Premier League

LONDON (AFP) –

Reading striker Nick Blackman (right) vies with Queens Park Rangers‘ Armand Traore during their English Premier League match in Reading on April 28, 2013. Both clubs have been relegated from the league after their 0-0 draw ended both clubs’ survival hopes.

Reading and QPR were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday after the strugglers played out a 0-0 draw at the Madejski Stadium which ended their survival hopes.

A win for either side would have kept alive their slender chances of staying up at least until Aston Villa’s clash with Sunderland on Monday.

But both looked wracked with nerves during a goalless stalemate which condemned Nigel Adkins’ Reading and Harry Redknapp’s QPR to starting next season in the Championship.

Bottom club Reading and second bottom QPR are both nine points behind fourth bottom Aston Villa with three games remaining, but a complicated equation means there is no chance of either avoiding the drop.

If Wigan and Villa lose their next three games they will go into the final day on 32 and 34 points respectively, while back to back wins for QPR and Reading win would give them 31 points ahead of the last match.

However, with Wigan and Villa playing each other on the last weekend, only one of them could be overtaken by QPR and Reading, meaning QPR and Reading are guaranteed to be in the bottom three at the end of the season.

Reading return to the Championship just 12 months after being promoted as second-tier champions and Adkins wants them to learn the lessons of their top-flight failure.

“I have told the players to bottle up the feeling as it is never nice to get relegated, and make sure they never feel that way again,” he said.

“For any new promoted team, it is a challenge to stay up. The Premier League is a ruthless division.

“We must now build for the future and learn the lessons well from this season. We have to regroup and put ourselves in a position to challenge to get back into the Premier League.”

Later on Sunday, third-placed Arsenal host champions Manchester United looking to cement their position in the top four, while fourth-placed Chelsea will aim to do the same when they face Swansea at Stamford Bridge.