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Everton have survived on the final day of the Premier League season, with Leicester City and Leeds United suffering relegation to the Championship.
Sean Dyche’s side knew that a victory on Sunday afternoon would be enough to keep them in the top flight and that’s what they managed, beating Bournemouth 1-0 at Goodison Park.
It was a seriously nervy affair and not an entirely convincing win over the Cherries, who had nothing to play for having long since secured their own survival.
However, the performance is irrelevant and the win the only thing that matters for the Toffees, which was given to them by a fine Abdoulaye Doucoure strike on 57 minutes.
Bournemouth admirably fought hard when they had little to fight for, committed to spoiling the party, but Everton held on for the all-important three points.
Everton finished the season on 36 points, two clear of the relegation zone, with the victory over Bournemouth just their eighth of the campaign.
Toffees defender Conor Coady told Sky Sports: ‘It’s relief. This has become a bit of a thing now but we don’t want to make it a bit of a thing. It’s a lot of relief.
‘We need to not make this a common theme, this is the last two seasons now, but this club has to rise and has to get better now.’
It was essential that Everton won as anything less and they would have been down because Leicester picked up a 2-1 win over West Ham at the King Power.
Goals from Harvey Barnes and Wout Faes gave the Foxes three points, and there was a spell during which they were out of the bottom three as they led and Everton were held.
However, they knew their destiny was not in their own hands from the start and a win was not enough.
Leeds needed a miracle on Sunday and they didn’t come close to pulling one off, losing 4-1 at home to Tottenham to see them return to the Championship after an eventful season which saw Sam Allardyce take charge of the final four games.
Leeds relegated on the final day of the Premier League season
Sam Allardyce apologized to fans after Leeds were relegated. Photo/ Leeds Live.
Leicester and Leeds join Southampton in being relegated, with the Saints comfortably adrift at the bottom of the table but enjoying an amazing last game of the campaign at home to Liverpool.
With nothing really on the line for either side, they cut loose and the match finished 4-4 to at least give the St Mary’s crowd some entertainment after a forgettable season.
How the final day of the season began
Going into the final day of the season, Everton had their fate in their own hands, knowing that a win over Bournemouth at Goodison Park would be enough to keep them in the top flight.
The Toffees were two points ahead of Leicester at the start of Sunday, with the Foxes having a significantly better goal difference, six superior to Everton.
This meant that if Everton failed to beat Bournemouth and Leicester beat West Ham at the King Power then the Foxes would stay up. Anything less than a win for them would have guaranteed relegation.
It was a long-shot from the start for Leeds as they knew they needed to beat Tottenham at Elland Road and hope that Everton and Leicester both failed to win.
Source:Metro
Leeds relegated on the final day of the Premier League season. Photo/ FBC News.
- Leeds United were relegated from the English Premier League on the final day of the season following a 4-1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur
- The West Yorkshire side went into the match against Spurs needing not only victory but for relegation rivals Leicester City and Everton to suffer defeats
Leeds United were relegated from the English Premier League on the final day of the season following a 4-1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
Leeds went into the match against Spurs needing not only victory but for relegation rivals Leicester City and Everton to suffer defeats. Since both teams won, Leeds’ three-season stay in the Premier League is over.
Leeds United were relegated on the final day of the Premier League after loss against Tottenham Hotspur. Photo/ FBC News.
The West Yorkshire side had not kept a clean sheet since January and its hopes of doing so on Sunday were extinguished after just two minutes of play when Harry Kane found the back of the net. Pedro Porro doubled the visitor’s lead in the 47th minute before Jack Harrison scored Leeds’ only goal of the match in the 67th minute.
Harry Kane then scored his 30th league goal of the season barely two minutes after Harrison’s goal. Lucas Moura marked his final appearance for Tottenham Hotspur with a goal in injury time.
The damage was bad for Leeds and the fans turned on both their team and the owners following the pitiful end at Elland Road. Leeds chairman and majority owner Andrea Radrizzani was not at the game but received a message from the fans to sell the club. The fans chanted “sack the board” in the latter stages of the game.
One Leeds fan invaded the pitch in the last 15 minutes of the game and was hauled away by a dozen of stewards. The fans on the stands sang “he’s got more fight than you” in reference to Leeds poor performance this season. They also sang songs supporting Marcelo Bielsa, who was sacked by the board last season.
The last time Leeds were relegated it took them 16 years to return to action. Before that, it took them eight years to return to top flight when they were relegated in 1982. Well, that clearly explains the frustrations of Leeds fans who hope that previous occurrences awaits them again.
Sam Allardyce Apologizes To Leeds Fans
Three years after Marcelo Bielsa returned Leeds United to the top flight, they have been relegated once again to the Championship. Both manager Sam Allardyce and Leeds United board apologized for the club’s relegation in their own statement. According to Sam, he tried his best to get Leeds out of trouble but the odds were against them.
Sam Allardyce apologized to fans after Leeds were relegated. Photo/ Leeds Live.
“I tried my best to get Leeds out of trouble, but I can’t enjoy anything when I don’t win. We didn’t leave a stone unturned and it’s really sad that Leeds is in this position and to the fans, I apologize that I didn’t do better and the players didn’t do better.” The Independent quotes Sam Allardyce.
The England international was brought in for Leeds United final four games of the season.