Premier League season comes to a close
Man United and Chelsea get CL spots, Bournemouth and Watford relegated • Spurs clinch Europa
LONDON (Reuters) – Manchester United and Chelsea secured places in the Champions League with wins on the final day of the Premier League season while Watford and AFC Bournemouth were relegated along with bottom club Norwich City.
Aston Villa survived thanks to a 1-1 draw at West Ham United which moved it to 35 points, one more than Bournemouth – which will be sent down despite a 3-1 win at Everton – and Watford which lost 3-2 at Arsenal.
A penalty from Bruno Fernandes and late goal from Jesse Lingard gave United the three points with a 2-0 win at Leicester City, which missed out on the Champions League by finishing fifth.
United was rewarded for a strong finish to the season, winning six of its last nine games and drawing the other three after the league restarted following a three-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chelsea ended in fourth spot after a 2-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Four minutes had been added to a nervy opening period when Marcos Alonso went down outside the Wolves area and Mount curled an exquisite free kick over the wall into the top left corner.
Barely two minutes later Chelsea's France striker Giroud showed all his experience and poise when he latched on to Mount's pass, rounded goalkeeper Rui Patricio and held off Wolves captain Conor Coady to poke the ball home.
Frank Lampard's Chelsea side needed a point to guarantee a Champions League spot in a three-way battle involving Manchester
United and Leicester City and would have felt aggrieved had it missed out after being a top-four fixture since last October.
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur secured a place in the Europa League next season as it closed out its season with a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.
Harry Kane's sharp early strike gave Spurs the lead but Palace, desperate to avoid an eighth successive defeat, hit back to claim a deserved share of the spoils.
Jeffrey Schlupp was on hand to net the equalizer early in the second half when the visitors failed to clear a corner.
With Palace already safe, despite its slump, it was all about Tottenham's bid to finish in sixth above Wolverhampton Wanderers and guarantee a Europa League spot.
Wolves' 2-0 loss at Chelsea ensured a point was enough for Jose Mourinho's side, which ended the season on 59 points, above Wolves on goal difference, thanks to a strong finish to a season of upheaval at the club.
In other action, striker Divock Origi scored a rare goal as champion Liverpool came from behind to close out a magnificent Premier League season with a 3-1 win at Newcastle United.
Liverpool ended the campaign on 99 points, 18 ahead of nearest rival Manchester City while Newcastle finished 13th on 44 points.
Liverpool went behind to the fastest goal ever scored against it in the Premier League era as Dwight Gayle latched on to Jonjo Shelvey's free kick and slotted it past Alisson with 26 seconds on the clock.
With Liverpool having made five changes to the team that started the 5-3 win over Chelsea on Wednesday, it fell to ever-present Virgil van Dijk to score the equalizer with a towering header seven minutes before halftime.
Belgian forward Origi, who had not scored in the league since December 4, put the Reds in front in the 59th minute, cutting in from the left before curling the ball in at the far post.
Liverpool turned the screw by bringing on the attacking trio of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in the 64th minute, and Newcastle struggled to deal with their clever movement.
Adopting a shoot-on-sight policy as he chased his 20th league goal of the season, *Liverpool 38 32 3 3 85 33 99 Man City 38 26 3 9 102 35 81 Man United 38 18 12 8 66 36 66 Chelsea 38 20 6 12 69 54 66 Leicester City 38 18 8 12 67 41 62 Tottenham 38 16 11 11 61 47 59 Wolverhampton 38 15 14 9 51 40 59 Arsenal 38 14 14 10 56 48 56 Sheffield United 38 14 12 12 39 39 54 Burnley 38 15 9 14 43 50 54 Southampton 38 15 7 16 51 60 52 Everton 38 13 10 15 44 56 49 Newcastle United 38 11 11 16 38 58 44 Crystal Palace 38 11 10 17 31 50 43 Brighton & Hove 38 9 14 15 39 54 41 West Ham United 38 10 9 19 49 62 39 Aston Villa 38 9 8 21 41 67 35 Bournemouth 38 9 7 22 40 65 34 Watford 38 8 10 20 36 64 34 Norwich City 38 5 6 27 26 75 21 *clinched championship; 1-4 – Champions League; 5 – Europa League; 6-7 – Europa League, depending on domestic cup; 18-20 – Relegation.
Arsenal 3, Watford 2; Burnley 1, Brighton & Hove Albion 2; Chelsea 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0; Crystal Palace 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1; Everton 1, AFC Bournemouth 3; Leicester City 0, Manchester United 2; Manchester City 5, Norwich City 0; Newcastle United 1, Liverpool 3; Southampton 3, Sheffield United 1; West Ham United 1, Aston Villa 1.
Salah hit the post and it was Mane who fired home in the 89th minute to round off the season in style for the Reds.
“We knew it was going to be tough, and we made it even more difficult for ourselves after I don't know how many seconds. But we played well, second half was outstanding I think. Good to finish up the season on a high,” said Van Dijk.
Manchester City wrapped up the campaign with an emphatic 5-0 victory over already relegated Norwich in midfielder David Silva's final league game for last season's champion.
Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus stabbed home the opener from close range in the 11th minute from Raheem Sterling's low cross after the England winger sparked panic on Norwich's right with a quick exchange of passes with Kevin de Bruyne.
Sheffield United's hopes of finishing eighth were dashed when it was beaten 3-1 by Southampton at St. Mary's Stadium on the final day of the season.
The result meant Chris Wilder's Blades finished ninth, still its best ever finish in the Premier League. Southampton, which was in the relegation zone earlier this season, ended in 11th place.