LONDON - Chelsea and Manchester United have qualified for the European Champions League at the expense of Leicester on a frantic final day of the English Premier League season, while Bournemouth and Watford were relegated to end five-year stays in the top flight.
United won 2-0 at Leicester through goals by Bruno Fernandes and Jesse Lingard to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team a third-place finish on Sunday. Chelsea beat Wolverhampton 2-0 after a goal and an assist by Mason Mount and finished in the fourth and final Champions League qualifying place above Leicester, who had been in the top four for most of the season.
Leicester, instead, will play in the Europa League along with Tottenham Hotspur, who drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace to secure sixth place - above Wolverhampton on goal difference.The battle to avoid the two remaining relegation places went to the wire as Aston Villa scored in the 84th minute, conceded a minute later, then held on for 1-1 draw at West Ham to survive. Captain Jack Grealish scored Villa’s goal in what could be his last game for his boyhood club.
Bournemouth did what they had to do and beat Everton, 3-1, but ended up one point behind Villa. Watford were also relegated as the next-to-last team after losing 3-2 at Arsenal. Manchester City passed 100 goals for the campaign with a 5-0 win over last-placed and already-demoted Norwich, a game that marked the last in the Premier League for David Silva after 10 years with City. Kevin De Bruyne got a record-tying 20th assist of the season and also scored twice.
Liverpool ended their title-winning season with a 3-1 win at Newcastle and finished on a club-record 99 points. Southampton beat Sheffield United 3-1, with Danny Ings scoring his 22nd goal of the season. That left him one behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, who won the Golden Boot as the league’s highest scorer.
results
Man City 5-0 Norwich
Bournemouth 3-1 Everton
Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle
Southampton 3-1 Sheff Utd
Arsenal 3-2 Watford
Chelsea 2-0 Wolves
Man Utd 2-0 Leicester
Brighton 2-1 Burnley
Tottenham 1-1 Palace
West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa
