*Arsenal finish on a high, Man City lose; Liverpool, Chelsea draw
Everton survived relegation at the death after beating Bournemouth 1-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday, in the final day of the 2022/23 season.
Everton required a win against Bournemouth to ensure Premier League safety on an afternoon of nerve-shredding tension at Goodison Park.
Sean Dyche’s side knew victory would guarantee survival irrespective of events elsewhere, but for a time they were in the drop zone as they struggled to break down Bournemouth and Leicester City were beating West Ham United.
Everton finally ended the deadlock after 57 minutes as Abdoulaye Doucoure sparked an explosion of elation and relief inside an emotionally-charged Goodison Park with a powerful right-foot finish from 20 yards that gave Bournemouth keeper Mark Travers no chance of saving it.
As the tension mounted, Everton survived a couple of Bournemouth near misses and an agonising 10 minutes of stoppage time before they could confirm they would be extending their 69-year stay in English football’s top tier.
Leicester City’s nine-year stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were relegated in agonising fashion despite beating West Ham on the final day of the season.
The Foxes’ fate was out of their hands heading into the last round of fixtures, and Everton’s 1-0 victory over Bournemouth meant the 2015-16 winners slipped into the Championship by two points.
While Toffees fans were in ecstasy at Goodison Park, Leicester supporters at the King Power were left to rue a miserable campaign in which they won only nine league matches.
Knowing they needed a win to have any chance of staying up, Leicester went close early on when Kelechi Iheanacho exchanged passes with James Maddison before clipping the crossbar with a vicious, curling effort.
The hosts did break the deadlock through Harvey Barnes’ cool finish from Iheanacho’s pass to lead at half-time, and at that stage they were staying up on goal difference.
Jonny Evans almost headed into his own net in a nerve-jangling second half, but the stadium was silenced when word filtered through about Everton scoring.
In other results at the top, runners up Arsenal demolished Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-0, Man City lost 1-0 Champions Man City lost 1-0 to Brentford, Chelsea drew 1-1 against Champions League new entrant Newcastle, Man United beat Fulham 2-1, while Liverpool played an eight goal thriller against relegated Southampton 4-4.
In other results, Crystal Palace were held by Nottingham Forest 1-1, Tottenham sealed Leeds’ relegation with a 1-4 win, while Leicester’s 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium was inconsequential as they would play in the Championship next season.
PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL DAY RESULTS
| Arsenal 5-0 Wolves Everton 1-0 Bournemouth Leeds 1-4 Tottenham Leicester 2-1 West Ham |
| Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton |
| Brentford 1-0 Man City |
| Man United 2-1 Fulham |
| Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle |
| Southampton 4-4 Liverpool |
| C. Palace 1-1 Nott’m Forest |
