Leicester were relegated from the Premier League just seven years after a spectacular title win as Everton extended their 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 their relegation was confirmed by a 4-1 defeat to Tottenham. Abdoulaye Doucoure was Everton’s hero after the French midfielder hit home from the edge of the penalty area on 57 minutes, unleashing a cheering party around Goodison Park.
In contrast, Leicester were disappointed when they went down despite their 2-1 win over West Ham.
Everton started the afternoon in control of their own destiny, but put a raucous support from 40,000 fans at Goodison Park through the mill before securing survival.
Scoring goals was a problem for Sean Dyche’s men and they lacked the presence of talisman striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Even as Everton opened up to the visitors, Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers made a stunning save for Idrissa Gueye midway through the first half.
Travers was a late substitute for Bournemouth’s side after captain Neto missed for personal reasons and more heroics from the Irish goalkeeper prevented Demarai Gray from opening the scoring early in the second period.
Giving in first would probably have been fatal for Everton, who have not scored more than once at home since October.
The relief around Goodison was palpable as Doucoure’s sweet attack finally got the better of Travers.
Everton still had an anxious half hour to watch and Jordan Pickford had to make a fine save to deny Matias Vina an equalizer during 10 minutes of extra time to cross the line.
Too late for Leicester
Leicester did what they had to do on the day as the Foxes won for the second time in 17 games.
But it was too little, too late for a talented squad that underperformed this season.
Unlike Everton, Leicester have an arsenal of offensive weapons and they showed the quality they possess with the opening goal as Harvey Barnes exchanged a one-two with Kelechi Iheanacho and calmly pushed into the far corner.
Wout Faes headed in Leicester’s second just after the hour mark, but at that point the home crowd at the King Power knew Everton were leading and needed a favor from Bournemouth that never came.
Leeds needed a series of results to go in their favor 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 pulled one back for Leeds.
Lucas Moura rounded out the scoring with virtually his last kick in a five-year career at Tottenham Hotspur.
The victory for Spurs was not enough to secure a place in next season’s Europa Conference League as Aston Villa defeated Brighton 2–1 to finish seventh.
Manchester City had long since clinched a fourth title in five years, but the champions’ 25-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end when Brentford beat Pep Guardiola’s men 1-0.
Ethan Pinnock scored the lone goal five minutes from time as the Bees completed a memorable double over City this season.
Arsenal continued the disappointment of their demise in the title race to end their season on a high as Granit Xhaka scored twice in a 5-0 thrashing of Wolves.
Manchester United secured third place with a 2-1 win over Fulham, while fourth-placed Newcastle were held 1-1 at Chelsea.
But the game of the day came at St Mary’s where already relegated Southampton and Liverpool drew 4-4.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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