Khaleej Times

Heartbreak for The Foxes 7 years after fairytale win

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Leicester was relegated from the Premier League just seven years after a spectacula­r title triumph as Everton prolonged its 69-year stay in the English top flight by beating Bournemout­h 1-0 on Sunday.

Leeds will also return to the Championsh­ip after three seasons in the Premier League as its relegation was confirmed by a 4-1 defeat to Tottenham.

Abdoulaye Doucoure was Everton's hero as the French midfielder smashed home from the edge of the box on 57 minutes to spark jubilant celebratio­ns around Goodison Park.

In contrast, Leicester was crestfalle­n as it went down, despite its 2-1 win over West Ham.

Everton began the afternoon in control of its own fate but put a raucous support of 40,000 fans at Goodison Park through the mill before securing survival.

Scoring goals has been a problem for Sean Dyche's men and they badly missed the presence of talismanic striker Dominic Calvertlew­in.

Even when Everton did open up the visitors, Bournemout­h goalkeeper Mark Travers produced a stunning save to deny Idrissa Gueye midway through the first half.

The Cherries upset the odds to secure survival weeks ago and refused to lie down and make life easy for the home side.

Marcos Senesi fired inches wide before Yerry Mina needed to make a desperate last-ditch challenge to block Dominic Solanke's goalbound effort.

Travers was a late replacemen­t in the Bournemout­h side after captain Neto missed out for personal reasons and more heroics from the Irish goalkeeper prevented Demarai Gray from opening the scoring early in the second period.

Conceding first would likely have been fatal for Everton, who have not scored more than once at home since October.

The relief was palpable when Doucoure's sweet strike finally got the better of Travers.

Everton still had an anxious half hour to see out. Jordan Pickford had to make a fine save to deny Matias Vina an equaliser during 10 minutes of added time.

Leicester did what it had to do as the Foxes won for just the second time in 17 games.

But it was too little, too late for The Foxes that badly underperfo­rmed this season.

In contrast to Everton, Leicester has an array of attacking weapons and it showed the quality it possesses with the opening goal as Harvey Barnes exchanged a onetwo with Kelechi Iheanacho and slotted calmly into the far corner.

Wout Faes headed in Leicester's second just after the hour, but by that point the home crowd at the King Power knew Everton led and needed a favour from Bournemout­h that never arrived.

Leeds required a series of results to go in its favour and never gave themselves a chance as Harry Kane opened the scoring after just two minutes at Elland Road.

Pedro Porro doubled Spurs' lead early in the second-half and Kane reached 30 Premier League goals for the season after Jack Harrison had pulled one back for Leeds.

Lucas Moura rounded off the scoring with virtually his final kick of a five-year Tottenham career.

Victory for Spurs was not enough for secure a place in next season's Europa Conference League as Aston Villa beat Brighton 2-1 to seal seventh. — reuters

Results:

Arsenal 5 Wolverhamp­ton Wanderers 0; Aston Villa 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 1; Brentford 1 Manchester City 0; Chelsea 1 Newcastle United 1; Crystal Palace 1 Nottingham Forest 1; Everton 1 AFC Bournemout­h 0; Leeds United 1 Tottenham Hotspur 4; Leicester City 2 West Ham United 1; Manchester United 2 Fulham 1; Southampto­n 4 Liverpool 4

 ?? ?? A young Leicester City fan cries after the team’s relegation on Sunday. — afp
A young Leicester City fan cries after the team’s relegation on Sunday. — afp

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