Leicester City and Leeds United were relegated from the Premier League after a thrilling final day that saw Everton survive.
Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goals in the second half saw coach Sean Dycke’s team beat Bournemouth 1-0, while Leeds were crushed 4-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Leicester beat West Ham United 2-1, but it wasn’t enough given Everton’s victory.
the athlete Analyzes 90 minutes of nail biting motion at the bottom of the table…
Leeds go six goals back in a must-win game…and concede after two minutes into both halves
You need to win to stay up, and even that may not be enough. You can make a big swing in goal difference, too. So what did you decide to do? If you’re Sam Allardyce, you name the starting line-up of six defenders and very few well-known attacking players, with the exception of Jack Harrison and Rodrigo.
And then, as you settle into your position in the dugout, you watch that defensive heavyweight concede after one full minute of play; Nobody follows Harry Kane, who never misses the position you dedicate to him. Thus begins the chaos of performance, in the chaos of composition.
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Leeds are painfully limited and have been for most of the season. But this four match period may have prompted the idea of Allardyce staying longer. There was little, if any, in his tenure that made him seem like someone who had his finger on the pulse.
And while it might be different if he was a permanent hire with his own team, to assume that fate or to trust him is too risky to take. Leeds get down to Weston McKinney’s routine of long throws…it was really that bad.
Phil Hi
Dyche’s appointment pays off
The big dilemma facing Shawn Daichi on his way into Sunday’s match was how to fill in the gaps in his defense and offense. With no suitable defenders and no Dominic Calvert-Lewin present, he spent most of the week experimenting with different formations, trying to come up with a solution.
Dyche settled for a change of format to a three in back that was rarely pretty but ultimately successful.
Faced with the dangerous Dango Ouattara, who was a target for Everton in January, James Garner managed to play right-back. The midfielder revealed after last weekend’s match against Wolves that he had never played in his new position before, yet calmness has been epitomized once again at Goodison.
Garner made tackles, made clever passes and forced Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers to make a fantastic save in the first half. On the flip side, Dwight McNeil was an efficient and poised runner.
Calvert-Lewin’s absence was more difficult. In the first half, dangerous crosses into the penalty area began to beg. More often than not, they didn’t have the players or the attendance to make it matter. But Doucoure’s wonder strike, which evoked memories of Gareth Farrelly’s equalizer against Coventry in 1998 that kept Everton top, made all the difference. By hook or by crook, Dyche found a way.
His arrival at the end of January as a replacement for Frank Lampard proved to be a turning point in Everton’s season.
Patrick Boyland
Doucoure plays a vital role for Everton
Football has never been more theatrical than on the last day, and Doucouré scored the goal that kept Everton full circle from the midfielder who had been frozen under former boss Frank Lampard.
“He’s definitely someone who can help the club move forward,” his manager Daichi said in February.
“Different managers see different things; different managers want different things.” “He keeps working both boxes, he drives with the runs that’s for sure. The signs are good.”
Doucouré has played key roles in Everton’s big wins: driving forward in the first minute against Brentford to assist Dwight McNeil’s match-winner, as well as scoring twice in the first 30 minutes to seal a massive 5-1 win away at Brighton, and scoring. Goal and assist late in the 2-2 draw against Chelsea.
Liam Tharm
And Leicester fell … despite scoring 51 goals
Leicester became the third team to be relegated from the Premier League (in a 38-game season) after scoring more than 50 goals in one season.
Their 2-1 win over West Ham United at the King Power Stadium wasn’t enough to keep them top after Everton’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth, but Harvey Barnes’ first-half goal saw them reach the half-century mark for the season, and a Wout Faes header in the second half. She meant Middlesbrough tied for 51 in 1996-97. The other team to score more than 50 was Blackpool in 2010-11 (55).
But a consolation for Pablo Fornals meant they conceded 68, the joint third-highest total in the division.
For many, this may be the last time they represent the club as they slide into the Championship. Youri Tielemans, Jonny Evans, Pape Mendy, Daniel Amartey, Ayoze Perez, Caglar Soyonko and Ryan Bertrand are all out of contract now, while James Maddison and Harvey Barnes are expected to be sold.
Kelechi Iheanacho appeared to wave to the crowd when he was taken off, to be replaced by Jamie Vardy, who still had one year left on his contract. It was a big call from caretaker manager Dean Smith to drop Leicester’s record top scorer in the Premier League in favor of Iheanacho, although it didn’t affect the outcome.
This team’s poor defensive record has already done its disservice, with just one clean sheet in their last 23 league matches the main reason for their relegation.
Rob Tanner
Leeds’ wasteful finishing cost them
If you concede goal in 20 out of 38 Premier League matches this season, you will almost certainly be in the relegation zone. Leeds’ poor survival hopes were dashed after just two minutes by Harry Kane’s finish, but what followed was far more representative of their season.
Leeds had nine shots in the first half as they tried to win back. Only once have they scored more efforts in the first 45 minutes – against Crystal Palace in April – this season. However, only one of those shots tested Tottenham goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Indeed, only three of Leeds’ 19 goals hit in 90 minutes.
Throughout the entire season, Rodrygo has performed well in front of goal – scoring 4.6 non-penalty goals over his xG – but as a team, Leeds haven’t tested their goalkeeper as frequently as they should have throughout the season.
Their share of shots on target stands at 31.4 per cent at the end of the season, the third worst in the Premier League.
Working on an opportunity is one thing, but it goes without saying that turning those opportunities in is where you get the hassle out of the landing zone. If a single match covered a team’s entire season, it was at Elland Road on a Sunday afternoon.
Mark Curry
This is how the schedule looked at the end of the day:
(Top photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantastasta/Getty Images)
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