Liverpool 3-0 Middlesbrough: Reds Secure Champions League Spot After 3 Years
Liverpool got the job done as they beat Middlesbrough 3-0 to secure their place in next year's Champions League.
A big call from Martin Atkinson in the 23rd Minute saw him wave away Patrick Bamford’s penalty appeals after the forward was bundled over by Dejan Lovren. Had the penalty been given Lovren could have expected to have been shown the red card, with replays suggesting it was the incorrect call from the referee.
Resolute defending from Middlesbrough kept Liverpool from opening the scoring until the 45th minute where they finally came unstuck through some splendid football from the Reds which ended with Georginio Wijnaldum being played through inside the box and he lashed it past Brad Guzan at his near post.
Before the opener Boro were only tested by long-range strikes from Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho.
Coutinho doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 51st minute with a clever free kick. The Brazilian, who saw Guzan take two steps across his goal line, drilled his strike home at the goalkeepers side.
Counter attacking football was at its finest in the 56th minute with Lallana making it 3-0. The Reds broke away from a Boro corner and ended with Lallana slotting home from a Wijnaldum headed pass.
All in all, it was a deserved victory for Liverpool, who will be back in the Champions League for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
Arsenal 3-1 Everton: Too Little Too Late For Gunners
Arsenal missed out on a top-four finish and saw Laurent Koscielny sent off as they defeated Everton 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsene Wenger made three alterations to the team who beat Sunderland 2-0 in midweek, with Danny Welbeck, Koscielny and Gabriel back in the starting line-up.
There was one change to the Toffees starting XI, with Ross Barkley dropping out to be replaced by Enner Valencia.
The hosts made a flying start, with Welbeck almost turning home a Hector Bellerin cross after little more than a minute.
Nine minutes in Welbeck failed to convert a Mesut Ozil cross from the left, but Bellerin arrived right on cue at the far post to drive the ball home and make the score 1-0 to the home side.
However, five minutes later the Gunners were down to ten men as centre-back Koscielny was late with a crunching challenge on Valencia and was shown a straight red card.
The Toffees threw on Barkley to try and take advantage of the extra man, but within two minutes of that change they were 2-0 down, as a deflected shot was collected by Welbeck, who calmly set up Alexis Sanchez for a tap-in.
Everton pushed for a goal to get back in the game, testing Petr Cech on several occasions, including a fine tip-over from a Romelu Lukaku header.
Early in the second half Joel Robles kept out first Welbeck and then Ozil as the hosts pushed for a third goal, but they were then dealt another defensive blow as Gabriel was stretchered off to be replaced by Per Mertesacker.
The Toffees then gained a lifeline as Nacho Monreal handled a Leighton Baines cross and Lukaku made no mistake from the penalty spot, despite Cech going the right way.
Valencia then saw a header ruled out for a push, before a struggling Sanchez was replaced by Alex Iwobi.
The visitors continued to push for an equaliser as time ticked away, although Iwobi missed two chances to make the game safe for the Londoners.
However, the game was over in stoppage time as Ozil beat a couple of men on the left and his pass was taken on by Ramsey, who curled a right-footer into the far top corner of the net.
Watford 0-5 Watford: Aguero Bags Bags To Seal 3rd Spot
If there was the slightest anxiety among Pepe Guardiola’s players about the prospect of securing a place in the Champions League group stages then they never showed it and there was never a moment during this final game of the season when it looked in doubt.
For the final act of their manager’s first season in English football, Manchester City crushed Walter Mazzari’s Watford in this, his last game in charge of the club which, as far as many in the home crowd were concerned, was at least one game too many.
Sergio Aguero scored twice to take his Premier League season total to 20 with the score 4-0 at half-time and Watford already being booed by their own fans.
Sergio Aguero scored twice to take his Premier League season total to 20 with the score 4-0 at half-time and Watford already being booed by their own fans.
City have secured third place, which is a better return than the fourth place they managed under Manuel Pellegrini last season even if it will fall well short of Guardiola’s expectations.
They have scored 15 goals in winning their last four games and will not have the inconvenience of an August qualifier for the Champions League group stages.
They have scored 15 goals in winning their last four games and will not have the inconvenience of an August qualifier for the Champions League group stages.
When Yaya Toure was substituted in the second half, there was a long embrace and conversation between him and Guardiola on the touchline.
Toure will be a free agent this summer but it seems there may well be another contract for a man who has come back into the reckoning under Guardiola.
Toure will be a free agent this summer but it seems there may well be another contract for a man who has come back into the reckoning under Guardiola.
Manchester United 2-0 Palace: Young Guns Shine
It felt like the changing of the guard at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney played what is likely to be his last competitive home game in Manchester United colours, the England captain given a standing ovation as he gave way two minutes from time for Angel Gomes, the prodigiously gifted 16-year-old who has attracted plenty of excitement at the club.
Gomes became the club’s youngest debutant in the Premier League era but it was another player making his first bow for United who put his name up in lights.
Josh Harrop needed just 15 minutes to announce his arrival, putting the youngest team United had ever fielded in the Premier League on course for an impressive win against Crystal Palace with a wonderful strike.
Paul Pogba also returned after the death of his father to score and produced an accomplished display that will give Jose Mourinho plenty of heart ahead of Wednesday’s Europa League final against Ajax.
Paul Pogba also returned after the death of his father to score and produced an accomplished display that will give Jose Mourinho plenty of heart ahead of Wednesday’s Europa League final against Ajax.
The average age of United’s side was just 22 years and 284 days. Remove 31-year-old Rooney from the equation and it dropped to 21½. Harrop, at 21, was the oldest of United’s four full debutants, with goalkeeper Joel Pereira, left back Demitri Mitchell and midfielder Scott McTominay only 20.
Axel Tuanzebe and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are 19. A veritable kindergarten in football terms at this level.
Axel Tuanzebe and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are 19. A veritable kindergarten in football terms at this level.
Hull City 1-7 Tottenham: Kane Clinch Golden Boot With Hatrick
There is no longer a debate, no point arguing. Resistance is futile. There is not a better centre-forward in the Premier League than Harry Kane. There might not be a better one anywhere soon.
It is strange to think people used to question whether Kane was good enough to play for Tottenham Hotspur, that mischievous suggestion he would be nothing more than a one-season wonder, but as incredulous at it sounds, there were even critics in August who claimed Kane was not as good as we thought.
A series of subdued performances for England at the European Championship, and a slow start to the season with Spurs, was enough for his talent to be a topic that was at least open for discussion.
There was a suspicion that Kane might have been found out. There was a nagging fear he could not score when the pressure is on, enough concern to suggest Kane would just be another young English footballer who would never be the player we hoped he could be. There was no need to be worried, no need to fret.
Those doubts have not been eased, they have been erased. Nobody has scored more goals in the last two years than Kane. This hat-trick against shambolic Hull – his fifth of the campaign – making it 35 in 39 appearances this season, 29 of them in them in the Premier League.
Chelsea 4-1 Sunderland: Champions Set Prem Record
Champions Chelsea secured a record 30th Premier League win of the season as captain John Terry was given a first-half guard of honour on his emotional Stamford Bridge farewell.
There may have been another Chelsea goodbye, as Diego Costa waved his way off the pitch when he was substituted after setting up Eden Hazard for the goal that set the home side on their way to victory over relegated Sunderland.
The first 26 minutes were all about Terry, who has confirmed he will leave Chelsea this summer.
A banner in the Shed End read ‘JT thank you for everything’ and the Chelsea players ran out with a farewell message imprinted on their training tops.
Terry’s wife Toni was wiping the tears away even before kick-off for her husband’s 717th Chelsea appearance, but what was not in the script was Sunderland scoring a goal after just three minutes.
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