Swansea Relegation Confirmed as Stoke City Bows Out With Win

Swansea's relegation to the Championship was confirmed by a 2-1 defeat to Stoke City, who join them in the second tier next season.

Swansea's relegation to the Championship was confirmed by a 2-1 defeat to Stoke City, who join them in the second tier next season.

Swansea made 5 changes from their defeat to Southampton, with Angel Rangel captaining the side in his last game for the club. Leon Britton was made to wait for his final appearance as he started on the bench. Stoke handed a debut to Danish midfielder Lasse Sorensen.

On a day of many goodbyes, one came sooner than expected as Joe Allen had to be replaced by Darren Fletcher. Former Swan Allen is expected to leave Stoke this summer and received a good ovation from everyone in the ground.

Swansea took the lead in the 14th minute with a nicely worked goal. A flicked pass found the head of Andre Ayew and his cushioned header was perfectly into the path of Andy King, who found the bottom corner.

"We want ten," sang the Stoke fans, clearly wanting former manager Mark Hughes to be relegated with Southampton. Wayne Routledge latched onto a through ball but skewed his shot off target.

Swansea conceded an equaliser they could ill afford as Stoke launched a counter attack. Shaqiri lofted a pass towards Badou Ndiaye, who beat the offside trap before lofting a deft finish over Lukasz Fabianski.

Swansea's sliver of hope was quickly disappearing and it got worse before half time. The debutant Sorensen whipped in a dangerous cross and Peter Crouch was on the end of it, towering over the defenders to divert his header into the net.

Another free kick at the other end nearly produced the equaliser. Jordan Ayew managed to get his free kick at the right height but it was just wide of the goal with Jack Butland stretching to get there. The Swans were booed off at half time, their fate all but sealed.

Stoke had the chance to put Swansea out of their misery early in the second half as Martin Olsson blatantly handled the ball and referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. Xherdan Shaqiri stepped up but the Swiss international's penalty was poor and saved by Fabianski.

The funereal atmosphere at the Liberty Stadium was briefly broken by rapturous applause as club legend Leon Britton was given his final run out after over 500 appearances for the club. Goalscorer King was the man replaced, with Tammy Abraham also on in place of Routledge.

Jordan Ayew headed straight into the arms of Butland from a Swansea free kick as the home side tried in vain to get a leveller. Ayew should then have scored from just four yards out but as Stoke players threw themselves in the way of the ball it was actually Abraham who inadvertently blocked it.

Butland was called into action to deny Sam Clucas before Kurt Zouma cleared off the line from Abraham as the Potters fought to hold onto their lead.

The final whistle brought the curtain down on Swansea's seven-year stay in the top flight. It was a meek way to leave the Premier League, and not the goodbye that Rangel and Britton, both excellent servants for the Swans down the years, deserved.