Tottenham secure Premier League survival with 1-0 win over Everton as West Ham’s 14-year stay in top division ends.
West Ham United were relegated and Tottenham Hotspur survived on an emotional final day of the Premier League season when Pep Guardiola and Mohamed Salah made their exits after record-breaking spells in English football.
West Ham beat Leeds 3-0 on Sunday, but that was not enough to climb out of the relegation zone because fourth-to-last Tottenham also won, 1-0 at home to Everton, to stay two points clear of their London rivals.
Spurs kicked off against Everton needing, realistically, only a draw to avoid relegation for the first time since 1977 – as they sat two points clear of the Hammers with a significantly better goal difference.
Joao Palhinha released the mounting pressure at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium just before half-time, poking home after his header thundered back off a post.
That meant West Ham’s 14-year stay in the Premier League was over and Tottenham will be in the top division for a 49th straight season.
Guardiola’s decade-long tenure at Manchester City – which has included six Premier League titles – ended with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa that featured a mid-match guard of honour, first for Bernardo Silva, and then John Stones, two of Guardiola’s stalwarts.
Guardiola hugged both and wiped away tears with his T-shirt
In Liverpool, Salah was given a standing ovation – before he kissed the Anfield turf – during his second-half substitution in his 442nd and last game for the Reds, in which he grabbed an assist in a 1-1 draw with Brentford.
The Egyptian winger finished his nine years with the Reds with 257 goals.
Meanwhile, Arsenal had already clinched the title and closed their first championship-winning campaign since 2004 with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.
Sunderland became only the fifth side in Premier League history to qualify for Europe in their first season following promotion after beating Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday.
Sunderland will join Bournemouth, who drew 1-1 at Nottingham Forest, in the Europa League next season with Chelsea missing out on Europe entirely after finishing in 10th place – just 10 months after winning the Club World Cup.
The Conference League spot went to Brighton in eighth despite a 3-0 home defeat by Manchester United.
United, whose talisman Bruno Fernandes scored a goal and supplied a record-breaking 21st assist of the season, had Champions League qualification wrapped up, as did champions Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Crystal Palace can also qualify for next season’s Europa League if they beat Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final in Leipzig on Wednesday.
In Sunday’s other games, relegated sides Burnley and Wolves played out a 1-1 draw, while Fulham beat Newcastle 2-0.
Haaland crowned Premier League’s top scorer
Erling Haaland won a third Premier League Golden Boot in four seasons at Manchester City on Sunday despite not featuring in Guardiola’s farewell at the Etihad after being left out of the squad.
Norwegian star Haaland scored 27 times in 35 league appearances as City fell just short in their quest to deny Arsenal the Premier League title.
Haaland joins Alan Shearer and Harry Kane as three-time winners and trails Salah and Thierry Henry as the only players to win the award four times in the Premier League era.
Brentford’s Igor Thiago finished second to Haaland on 22 goals, which propelled him into the Brazil squad for the World Cup.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
