The Blades entered the day needing just a draw to ensure Premiership soccer for next season, but their loss coupled with West Ham's surprising 1-0 win at Manchester United on a goal from Carlos Tevez means that Neil Warnock's side will be headed back down to the Championship next season.

Wigan came into Sunday's contest three points behind Sheffield United, and knew that anything less than three points would not be enough. With the same goal differential as the Blades, Paul Jewell's club was not concerned with any other result but their own, as a win would keep them in England's top-flight.

Things started well for Wigan as Paul Scharner had the club in front after 14 minutes, but Jonathan Stead's goal in the 38th pulled the sides level. David Unsworth put Wigan back on top right before the half when he converted from the penalty spot after Sheffield's Phil Jagielka was whistled for handling the ball inside the area.

The home side was handed a bit of hope in the 73rd minute when Wigan's Lee McCulloch picked up his second yellow card, reducing Wigan to 10 men. However, an equalizer was not in the cards for Sheffield, and the Blades will now be relegated by the cruelest of margins, just a one-goal difference in goal differential.

Wigan was on the attack from the start and moved ahead in the 14th minute. Emile Heskey played a pass to Kevin Kilbane on the left, and his low cross was struck first-time by Scharner, beating keeper Patrick Kenny for the opener.

The hosts struck back in the 37th minute when Jagielka crossed from the right and Stead rose up above a pack of defenders to head past Michael Pollitt in the Wigan net.

A draw would have been good enough for Sheffield, but they soon found themselves trailing once again.

A Wigan free kick led to Jagielka's handling of the ball, and Unsworth made no mistake from the spot just before halftime, sending Wigan into the half with the lead.

Sheffield had 45 minutes to grab a goal in order to avoid the drop zone, and the Bramall Lane faithful thought they had one five minutes after the restart. Stead flicked a header on for substitute Danny Webber, who was in behind the defense and poked the ball past the keeper. However, the shot came back off the post, and the hosts were cruelly denied.

The home side was becoming desperate, but they failed to produce many quality chances. They were handed a break when McCulloch was sent off 17 minutes from time, but Keith Gillespie's cross from the right only grazed the cross bar and Michael Tonge got into the box but failed to shake free and was unable to get off a shot.

In other EPL action on Sunday, Tottenham, Everton and Bolton each locked up a spot in the UEFA Cup for next season. Spurs downed Manchester City 2-1, Everton earned a 1-1 draw with Chelsea and Bolton split the points in 2-2 fashion against Aston Villa. Reading fell one point shy of qualifying for Europe as they came away from Ewood Park with a 3-3 draw against Blackburn. Liverpool secured a third-place finish as they ended 2-2 with Charlton, while Arsenal played to a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth, locking up the fourth spot. Middlesbrough got two goals from Mark Viduka to beat Fulham 3-1 and Watford, who will also be relegated next season, grabbed a point against Newcastle in a 1-1 draw.