The Hammers 2-2 draw at Birmingham City coupled with Bolton's 2-1 win against Middlesbrough means there will be First Division football at Upton Park next season. Beforehand though the club may need to sell to ease the financial losses caused by dropping out of the Premiership. And England internationals Cole, David James and Trevor Sinclair are the most attractive assets, along with Under-21 striker Defoe.

"We will have to look at the situation and make decisions accordingly," admitted stand-in manager Trevor Brooking. West Ham have the seventh-highest wage bill in the country and Sinclair, an England star at last year's World Cup, admitted: "The future of this team is on the line."

Even a last-minute equaliser by Paolo Di Canio at St Andrews wasn't enough to keep West Ham up. Bolton clung on to beat Middlesbrough despite Michael Ricketts scoring for Boro against his former side.

Champions Manchester United ended on a winning note, 2-1 at Everton - who missed out to Blackburn Rovers on a Uefa Cup spot as a result. But the big news from Goodison Park was manager David Moyes saying young striker Wayne Rooney had suffered a medial ligament injury and wouldn't be available for the match against South Africa, and could even miss the Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia.

"Wayne won't travel to South Africa and he will have a scan on Monday morning. He is also a doubt for the other matches," said Moyes. The FA's Head of media relations Adrian Bevington has confirmed that Sven has already spoken to the Everton manager.

"Sven spoke with David Moyes on the telephone after Sunday's game regarding Wayne Rooney," he said. "As we are well aware Wayne will have a scan on his knee in the morning and following the scan, the England team doctor will have a conversation with his counterpart at Everton - from where we will assess the situation further."

England skipper David Beckham scored United's equaliser at Goodison Park and Ruud van Nistelrooy's penalty winner ensured he ended the season with the Golden Boot. James Beattie finished top English scorer with 23 goals - two behind van Nistelrooy's Premiership total.

That leaves Kevin Phillips as the last Englishman to top the scoring charts and he is also expected to move on in the summer. His Sunderland team have finished with the worst ever points total in the Premiership and were beaten 4-0 by Arsenal on Sunday.

Nick Barmby, a member of the England side that beat Germany 5-1 in Munich, finished an injury-plagued season at Leeds on a high note. Barmby came off the bench to score in a 3-1 victory against Aston Villa.

The Champions League decider at Stamford Bridge ended with Chelsea beating Liverpool 2-1 despite the efforts of Steve Gerrard and Michael Owen.

Teddy Sheringham said farewell to Tottenham but it wasn't a happy departure for the 37-year-old England international. Spurs were thumped 4-0 by Blackburn and to make things worse for Teddy, one of the Rovers goals was scored by Andy Cole - his old team-mate at Manchester United.

"I won't be very popular with my dad," said Rovers scorer Craig Hignett. "He supports Everton and our win means they miss out on the Uefa Cup."

Manchester City said goodbye as well to Maine Road. Southampton though had a good FA Cup final warm-up with a 1-0 victory.

Premiership results May 11
Birmingham 2 West Ham 2
Bolton 2 Middlesbrough 1
Charlton 0 Fulham 1
Chelsea 2 Liverpool 1
Everton 1 Manchester United 2
Leeds 3 Aston Villa 1
Manchester City 0 Southampton 1
Tottenham 0 Blackburn 4
West Brom 2 Newcastle 2

From Joe Bernstein