Norwich back in Premier League after 6 years

LONDON - Norwich was promoted to the Premier League on Monday after a six-year absence from England’s top flight.

Simeon Jackson ensured Norwich would finish runner-up in the second tier by clinching a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth after third-place Cardiff was beaten 3-0 by Middlesbrough.

“It’s been a magnificent effort by everyone,’’ Jackson said after heading in his ninth goal in seven matches.

Norwich, which dropped out of the Premier League in 2005, was also promoted from the third tier last season after Paul Lambert took charge.

“In the two years we have been here, it’s a miracle what has happened,’’ Lambert said. “And it’s how we’ve done it, from League One and then the Championship. It’s up there with anything I’ve done.’’

The East Anglian club should be joined in the Premier League by London side Queens Park Rangers, which clinched the League Championship title on Saturday.

But QPR could face a points-deduction after being charged by The Football Association with flouting a ban on third-party ownership of players by signing Argentine midfielder Alejandro Faurlin in 2009.

Reading and Welsh rivals Cardiff and Swansea have secured three of the four playoff spots. Nottingham Forest is in pole position to take the fourth spot but could still be toppled by seventh-place Leeds in the final round of matches on Saturday.

AP