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Everton Survives, Leicester and Leeds Relegated on Premier League’s Final Day

Everton stayed in the top flight with a win on the final day of the season while Aston Villa clinched a spot in Europe over Spurs.

Andrew Gastelum

Everton Survives, Leicester and Leeds Relegated on Premier League’s Final Day
Everton Survives, Leicester and Leeds Relegated on Premier League’s Final Day /

On Sunday, a long Premier League season, one interrupted by the drama of a winter World Cup, came to an end. 

Manchester City had already been crowned champion for the fifth time in six years after a strong push from Arsenal, which sat atop the Premier League table for much of the season before a late-season decline. 

Even with the title decided, there were plenty of fireworks left for the grand finale, especially when it came to the relegation race. Meanwhile, there was still a pecking order to be fought over when it comes to the top half of the table, with three teams battling for seventh place and a berth in the Europa Conference League qualifiers. 

But in the end, Everton won to stay in the Premier League for another season while Leicester City and Leeds were relegated. Meanwhile, Aston Villa won to clinch seventh in the table, ensuring that Tottenham will not partake in European competition next season.

Here’s how things went down on the final day, along with the final Premier League table:

Relegation Race

With last-place Southampton already relegated and Nottingham Forest safe after upsetting Arsenal last week, the relegation race boiled down to Everton, Leicester City and Leeds—with only one spot in the top flight up for grabs.

Here’s what the table looked like entering the day:

Position

Team

Pts

Goal Differential

17

Everton

33

-24

18

Leicester City

31

-18

19

Leeds United

31

-27

And here were the scenarios to start the day to remain in the Premier League: 

  • Everton could remain in the Premier League with a win against Bournemouth OR a draw and a Leicester draw/loss and a Leeds loss/draw/win by two goals or fewer OR a loss and a Leicester draw/loss and a Leeds loss/draw
  • Leicester City could remain in the Premier League with a win against West Ham and an Everton draw/loss. It could not stay up with a draw or loss. 
  • Leeds could remain in the Premier League with a win against Spurs and a Leicester loss/draw and an Everton loss OR a win by three or more goals and a Leicester draw/loss and Everton draw/loss. It could not stay up with a draw or loss. 

In just the second minute, Harry Kane scored to put Leeds down 1–0. It was a dream start for Spurs and a nightmare for Leeds, which needed a win to have a chance at survival.  Leicester City scored a massive goal in the 34th minute thanks to Harvey Barnes. With Leeds trailing and the Everton match scoreless, Leicester jumped into 17th (and Premier League survival) for the time being.

Leeds conceded to Pedro Porro just two minutes into the second half to go down 2–0, which all but ended its hopes at survival. 

in the 57th minute, Abdoulaye Doucouré scored a huge goal for Everton to give the Toffees a 1–0 lead. The result would keep Everton in the top flight and relegate Leicester and Leeds.

Wout Faes scored minutes later to give Leicester a 2–0 lead over West Ham, but the Foxes still needed Everton to drop points. 

Leeds got one back thanks to Jack Harrison, but Kane scored his second goal to make it 3–1 in the 69th minute. 

Leicester saw its lead cut to 2–1 in the 79th minute thanks to Pablo Fornals’s goal for West Ham, but the Foxes still needed Everton to concede.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford came up with a season-saving effort in the 95th minute on a rocket from Bournemouth’s Matías Viña halfway through stoppage time. Not long after, the Toffees celebrated survival with their fans rushing the pitch at Goodison Park. 

European Qualification

Liverpool had fifth place locked to qualify it for the Europa League while Brighton was already fixed in sixth place and a Europa Conference League berth. But a place in the Europa Conference League qualifiers was still up for grabs with Aston Villa, Spurs and Brentford vying for seventh. 

Here’s what the those spots looked like entering the final day:

Place

Team

Points

Goal Differential

5

Liverpool

66

+28

6

Brighton

62

+20

7

Aston Villa

58

+4

8

Spurs

57

+4

9

Brentford

56

+11

Aston Villa could have clinched seventh with a win against Brighton or various scenarios with a draw/loss. Spurs could not lose and needed a win against Leeds and some help from Brighton against Villa OR a draw and Villa loss and Brentford draw/loss). Brentford needed a win against Man City and some help. 

The early Kane goal gave Spurs a lead in the second minute but Aston Villa struck right away against Brighton in the eighth minute thanks to Douglas Luiz.

But Deniz Undav followed up 11 minutes later for Brighton with an equalizer, throwing Spurs back into seventh place. 

Aston Villa took the lead (and went into seventh place) in the 43rd minute behind a goal from striker Ollie Watkins. 

Second-half goals from Pedro Porro and Kane gave Spurs a comfortable lead, but Villa still needed to drop points to concede seventh. Brentford took a surprising lead against Man City in the final 10 minutes, but the Villa and Spurs results ended Brentford’s hopes for seventh.

Despite the dominant Spurs win, Villa would still hold on for the win to clinch a spot in Europe for the first time since 2010.

Top Four

Manchester City finished first, and Arsenal was guaranteed second place. A Manchester United win Thursday against Chelsea, which finished outside of the top 10 for the first time since the 1995-96 season, guaranteed it a Champions League spot alongside Newcastle to fill out the top four. In the end, a United win and a Newcastle draw gave United third place. 

Man United came into the day in third on 72 points, while Newcastle was guaranteed at least fourth on 70 points. Man United needed a win against Fulham to seal third OR a draw and a Newcastle loss. To secure third, Newcastle needed a win against Chelsea and a Man United draw/loss since it held a significant advantage over United in goal differential. 

Newcastle took the lead early against Chelsea in the ninth minute after a goal from Anthony Gordon. For the time being, that put Newcastle into third on goal differential. 

A Kieran Trippier own goal in the 27th minute set the score at 1–1, but Manchester United then conceded a 29th minute goal to Kenny Tete to go down 1–0 to Fulham. 

But Jadon Sancho answered for United with a goal in the 39th minute to make it 1–1. Still, a Newcastle win and United draw would see Newcastle clinch third on goal differential. 

Bruno Fernandes scored in the 55th minute to give United a lead over Fulham and third place as Newcastle would have to settle for a draw with Chelsea. 

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Andrew Gastelum
ANDREW GASTELUM

Andrew Gastelum is a programming editor and writer at Sports Illustrated who specializes in soccer, the Olympics and international sports. He joined the SI staff in March 2021 and previously contributed to Howler Magazine and NBC Sports. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame alum and is currently based in Italy.

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