And with that I’m going to check out. Congratulations to Aston Villa for surviving, to Manchester United and Chelsea for qualifying for the Champions League, and to Liverpool for being magnificent champions. Bring on next season (12 September, if you’re asking). Bye!
And Andy Hunter saw Bournemouth seal three points but fall short of safety at Goodison Park:
It was on the long walk out of Goodison Park towards the temporary changing room behind the Park End Stand that Bournemouth discovered their five-year residence in the Premier League was over. Eddie Howe’s side delivered as they had to, ending Everton’s 11-game unbeaten home run and recording the club’s first ever win at Goodison, but there would be no helping hand from elsewhere.
Bournemouth thoroughly merited the win that ended Carlo Ancelotti’s own unbeaten home run as Everton manager but the damage had been inflicted before their arrival on Merseyside. Four points from a possible 24 since the restart had left the visitors reliant on slip-ups from Aston Villa and Watford in their bid for survival. They were not obliged. Josh King, Dominic Solanke and Junior Stanislas all scored to give Bournemouth a fourth away win of the season but, with news of Villa’s point at West Ham filtering through as they headed off the pitch, this was a triumph greeted in almost total silence.
Much more here:
Jonathan Liew was at the London Stadium to see Aston Villa clinch salvation:
The full-time whistle blew. One or two of the Aston Villa players let out a roar of celebration, only to be swiftly hushed by manager Dean Smith, warning them the job was still contingent on results elsewhere. For two agonising minutes, Villa’s entire playing squad and staff huddled together, awaiting news from the Emirates Stadium. Suddenly, the huddle exploded.
Yes: when the smoke had finally cleared from the longest Premier League season of them all, it was Villa who were still standing. They have clung to the precipice with fraying fingernails and fraying nerves, with reserves of patience and grit perhaps even they were not quite sure they possessed. They looked doomed for much of the season. But they were not.
Much more here:
Here’s Nick Ames’ match report from the Emirates:
Some of Watford’s players sank to their knees; others made for the tunnel without a moment’s delay. The whistle had just blown on their five years in the Premier League and nobody could say that, when the occasion demanded they hurl the kitchen sink at Arsenal, they did not go down without a fight. Their caretaker manager, Hayden Mullins, cajoled an insistent performance from his players but it was not enough despite a string of opportunities coming and going throughout. In the end they paid the price for seeing the game slip beyond them in the first period, when below-par opponents scored three times, and the consequences will be severe.
One poor season may not wreck an empire, but nor do the foundations put in place by the Pozzo family offer any kind of guarantee that they will sail straight back up from the second tier. It is hard to escape the sense that their habit of flipping managers has caught up with them; perhaps, in dispensing with Nigel Pearson, they had hoped a fresh bounce would see them through but the theory was finally disproved here and there will surely now be turnover among the playing staff too. Abdoulaye Doucouré and Ismaïla Sarr, who was almost unplayable at times, would grace far better teams.
Much more here:
The other moment Bournemouth were relegated. Eight points from their last four games was enough to save Aston Villa, but I do think (as I may have said earlier) lady luck has taken a bit of a shine to them.
The VAR saga continues. That’s not a handball. That’s a shoulder. Poor Sakho and poor Palace. Villa let off. #avfc #cpfc pic.twitter.com/XC29cLNXIg
— Wiz (@pitterpatterhq) July 12, 2020
The moment Bournemouth were relegated. If this goal had been given (and nothing else had happened any differently), Villa would just have been relegated, and the Cherries would have stayed up:
Finally, Deeney is asked if there’s a chance that he won’t recover from his knee injury:
I’m not that old, you cheeky bastard. No, it’s just a clean-up. I’ve been playing for the last month with a knee injury. Hardly training, just wanting to help the boys. My knee is what it is. Do I give up? No. You know me, you know my back-story, you know where I’m from. I’m going to keep going to the end. If it’s next week, if it’s two years from now, I’m going to say I had a good time and made my kids proud, and that’s all that mattered.
A bit more from Deeney. He’s not saying that he’s going, and I would guess that given that he’s 32, there’s a short close season and he’s about to have a knee operation it’s unlikely. It’s also interesting that on a couple of occasions he gores out of his way to praise Arsenal, as if trying to make amends for the whole cojones business:
I’ve got a knee operation that I’ll probably be having next week. Then we’ll see. Clubs can go in different directions, players can go in different directions, it’s what happens. I’m not saying that is my last game, but if it is my last game, I’m happy I gave everything I can. I’m a simple man. I look in the mirror when I get home, ‘Did you give the best version of you today?’ Yes. ‘Was it good enough?’ No. That’s it. You go again. I’m not going to take any shine away from this great Arsenal team, this great Arsenal club, some good lads here.
Things happen in football, people come and go. I’ve been at this club 10 years, if it’s my time to go it’s my time to go. There were bigger and better players here before me, there’ll probably be bigger and better players after.
Troy Deeney: 'I don't know if this is going to be my last game for Watford'
Troy Deeney speaks to Sky:
You’ve got to look at the bigger picture, it’s not today, it’s not last week, it’s a reflection of the past year. We’ve not quite been good enough, at both ends of the pitch. It’s heartbreaking for the people who work behind the scenes. We feel sorry for them. I’ll take the stick on social media, but the harsh reality is that people will probably lose their jobs off it, because we haven’t been good enough. As players we have to take that. As a club and as a team we go again.
Ultimately we haven’t been good enough. There’s no point dancing around it. The whole club from top to bottom will do an audit, we’ll look at where we’re at, and we’ll reassess. It’s not just us, I think Bournemouth and Norwich will be doing the same thing. It’s part and parcel of football. But obviously when it’s me people are going to enjoy it a bit more.
He’s asked if sacking three managers is one of the reasons for their relegation:
Course it is. We can’t say that we got it right, because ultimately we failed. It is what it is. But the bigger thing is for fans and people at clubs, they’ll be here long after the players. We have to appreciate that fans will be hurt, they’ll be angry and annoyed, and you have to take it. From a personal perspective, I don’t know if this is going to be my last game for Watford. You don’t know what the future holds.
“They created enough chances to win two games of football,” says Graeme Souness of Watford. “They must have had half-a-dozen rock-solid chances today. If that’s a mirror of their season: they defend badly, create chances and don’t take them, that’s why they’re going down.”
And that’s pretty much the state of it. Though without creating that many chances.
“At least we can only play City twice maximum next season,” writes Jonathan Denness, presumably a Watford fan. Silver linings and all that.
Updated
“People are going to attribute Watford’s relegation to the fact that they changed manager so many times during the season and over the past few years,” writes David Wall. “I’m not sure, it might be true, but given that Norwich and Bournemouth have both been relegated despite keeping the same manager (and every season teams that keep their manager get relegated) I wonder if it might be a red herring. In all cases perhaps the real reason is just poor recruitment/ squad building. And that can happen whatever the managerial hiring policy.”
They haven’t been relegated because they kept changing managers, they’ve been relegated because they kept appointing the wrong managers (that and never signing defenders).
Watford did lose today, but they produced their finest attacking performance for many a long moon, and could very easily have won. This is what happens when you give Deeney someone to attack with. The tragedy is that it took until the final day for anyone with team-picking responsibilities to realise this. Perhaps they’d have survived if they’d only got rid of Nigel Pearson sooner.
This isn’t a joke, by the way: Pearson was completely wedded to his 4-2-3-1 formation, which simply couldn’t fail badly or often enough to be rejected. Deeney has toiled for months, lonely and hopeless, flicking balls on to nobody. Today he was excellent. It wasn’t a coincidence.
The final final scores:
Arsenal 3-2 Watford
Burnley 1-2 Brighton
Chelsea 2-0 Wolves
Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham
Everton 1-3 Bournemouth
Leicester 0-2 Manchester United
Manchester City 5-0 Norwich
Newcastle 1-3 Liverpool
Southampton 3-1 Sheffield United
West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa
Ladies and gentlemen, your final league table:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 38 | 52 | 99 |
| 2 | Man City | 38 | 67 | 81 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 38 | 30 | 66 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 38 | 15 | 66 |
| 5 | Leicester | 38 | 26 | 62 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 14 | 59 |
| 7 | Wolverhampton | 38 | 11 | 59 |
| 8 | Arsenal | 38 | 8 | 56 |
| 9 | Sheff Utd | 38 | 0 | 54 |
| 10 | Burnley | 38 | -7 | 54 |
| 11 | Southampton | 38 | -9 | 52 |
| 12 | Everton | 38 | -12 | 49 |
| 13 | Newcastle | 38 | -20 | 44 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 38 | -19 | 43 |
| 15 | Brighton | 38 | -15 | 41 |
| 16 | West Ham | 38 | -13 | 39 |
| 17 | Aston Villa | 38 | -26 | 35 |
| 18 | AFC Bournemouth | 38 | -25 | 34 |
| 19 | Watford | 38 | -28 | 34 |
| 20 | Norwich | 38 | -49 | 21 |
Heurelho Gomes, Watford’s unused substitute goalkeeper, leaves the field in tears. This is, presumably, the final game of the 39-year-old’s professional career.
Other than the occasional ludicrous defensive calamity Watford played really well today, and made more than enough chances to have won comfortably. Not to be.
BT Sport show news of this result reaching Aston Villa. Scenes.
Final score: Arsenal 3-2 Watford! Watford are relegated!
90+7 mins: Time runs out for Watford!
Updated
90+6 mins: Villa’s point means Bournemouth are down. Watford are seconds away from joining them.
90+5 mins: Joao Pedro crosses from the left but Dawson, a makeshift forward, can’t really connect. Sarr crosses from the right, and Deeney heads wide!
Final score: West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa
90+4 mins: Watford know what they need here, and it’s two goals in 90 seconds.
Final score: Everton 1-3 Bournemouth
90+3 mins: Bournemouth have predictably won against an on-the-beach Everton, but it looks like they’ll get no reward for it.
90+3 mins: Chalobah doesn’t shoot, but curls the ball onto Deeney’s forehead. From six yards, he somehow heads over!
90+2 mins: Cleverley is fouled by Torreira, a foot outside the box. Watford have a wonderful chance to plant this one into the net/wall/Row Z.
90+1 mins: It’s all over at Manchester City, and for Norwich.
The curtain closes on our 2019-20 Premier League campaign. pic.twitter.com/gWvdUCXXVu
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) July 26, 2020
90+1 mins: There will be six minutes of stoppage time here, and four at West Ham. Watford need a two-goal swing in that time.
89 mins: Nketiah plays Aubameyang in, but Masina gets across well to snuff out danger. In Manchester, De Bruyne scores a fifth for City. In Newcastle, Mane scores a third for Liverpool.
88 mins: Joao Pedro replaces Pereyra, Watford using their last substitution to fling on another forward.
87 mins: A goal for Watford here, another for West Ham and the Hornets stay up. Sure, it’s unlikely, but it’s more possible than the four goals they needed just a few moments ago.
West Ham equalise against Aston Villa!
85 mins: Villa’s lead lasted about 90 seconds, and Yarmolenko’s shot from outside the area has deflected into the air, over Reina and into the net!
85 mins: As it stands, Watford need to score four times in the last six minutes to save themselves.
Aston Villa take the lead at West Ham!
83 mins: Grealish has put Villa ahead at West Ham, and that’s the end of the road for Watford and Bournemouth, surely!
82 mins: Manchester City are now 4-0 up against Norwich. At the London Stadium a shot rolls just wide of goal, Villa very nearly taking the lead.
81 mins: Watford are making a double substitution, bringing Chalobah and Cleverley on for Doucoure and Hughes.
80 mins: A lovely cross from Sarr on the right, which flicks off Holding’s thigh and out for a corner.
79 mins: Nelson crosses deep from the right, and Tierney volleys way wide from a nasty angle. At Everton, Bournemouth have taken a 3-1 lead thanks to Junior Stanislas and a horrible Pickford clanger.
77 mins: Foster seems to have hurt himself in the process of pulling off that save, or claiming the corner that followed. A bit of magic sponge, though, and he’s ready to play on.
75 mins: Arsenal miss a chance to seal it! Nketiah wins the ball from Dawson but it rolls to Kabasele; Nketiah wins the ball from him as well, and suddenly he and Aubameyang are through with just Foster in front of them! Nketiah should have shot but passes, and Aubameyang’s effort hits Foster in the knee!
Updated
74 mins: Another great save from Martinez! Deeney plays Sarr in on the right, and he outpaces Kolasinac and squares to Welbeck, whose backheel flick is clawed away by a diving Martinez!
74 mins: Martinez has been booked for wasting time.
73 mins: Pereyra curls the free-kick a couple of yards wide of the near post.
72 mins: Holding fouls Hughes on the left-hand corner of the area, and is booked. A bit harsh, that: there was hardly any contact at all.
71 mins: Play restarts with a throw-in to Watford, which Masina messes up. Foul throw, and Arsenal make two more substitutions, with Torreira replacing Dani Ceballos, and Nelson coming on for Pepe.
71 mins: The players have had their drinks. Watford have 20 minutes to score two goals.
69 mins: Southampton lead Sheffield United 2-1, which is further good news for Arsenal. Watford need another goal here, and one from West Ham at the London Stadium. The Hammers haven’t had a shot on target yet.
68 mins: For all their own-goal-scoring, penalty-conceding ways Watford have had enough chances - Deeney’s header, Masina’s volley, Welbeck a few minutes ago, Pereyra in the first half - to be comfortably ahead.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-2 Watford (Welbeck, 66 mins)
Cat, meet pigeons. Sarr crosses low to the near post, as he’s been doing for weeks, and this time a forward anticipates it. Martinez dives out and misses the ball, and Welbeck has an empty net to sidefoot into!
Updated
64 mins: Deeney prods the ball through to Welbeck, to the left of goal, but his shot hits the keeper! It came at the end of a slower, poorer few minutes from Watford, who for the first time today had started to look resigned to their fate.
64 mins: Incredible chance for Watford, and a great save from Martinez!
62 mins: Save! Maitland-Niles cuts inside Kabasele, who dives in ridiculously to block a shot that never comes, and shoots left-footed towards the near post, but Foster tips it wide!
60 mins: My Sky box, unlike Watford’s defence, has recovered. So too have Liverpool, who are now 2-1 up at Newcastle.
59 mins: My Sky box, like Watford’s defence, has gone into meltdown. Hopefully nothing much is happening.
57 mins: A double change for Arsenal, who bring off Willock and Lacazette, and bring on Nketiah and Kolasinac.
54 mins: This is a very entertaining match, with more goals surely to come. Watford win a corner, which Hughes curls into the box. Dawson gets to it first, but makes almost no contact, and Arsenal clear to Doucoure, whose shot hits one of four offside teammates.
51 mins: Burnley are now losing 2-1 to Brighton, while Sheffield United are drawing 1-1 at Southampton. Arsenal remain eighth in the as-it-stands table.
50 mins: What a miss from Adam Masina! This time Watford send in a long throw, which bounces through to Masina. His first effort rebounds back to him off Welbeck, inviting him to lash a volley into the roof of the net with his favoured left foot. He lashes it into the roof of the stand.
48 mins: Watford work the ball to the edge of the area, where Welbeck tackles Deeney.
46 mins: Peeeeep! We’re back under way at the Emirates.
The players are back out. Watford need to win this half 3-0 if they are to survive, and even that might not do it. It’s possible, just about. Just extremely unlikely.
Updated
The bottom of the league, as it stands. Disaster for Watford, doom for Bournemouth:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Brighton | 38 | -16 | 39 |
| 17 | Aston Villa | 38 | -26 | 35 |
| 18 | AFC Bournemouth | 38 | -26 | 34 |
| 19 | Watford | 38 | -29 | 34 |
| 20 | Norwich | 38 | -46 | 21 |
Half time: Arsenal 3-1 Watford
45+6 mins: And that’s it! Watford have attacked with numbers, energy and enterprise, and defended like clowns.
45+6 mins: Arsenal try to break, and Hughes takes out Pepe to make sure they don’t. He gets booked.
45+5 mins: Chelsea have scored twice in first-half stoppage time against Wolves, lead 2-0, and look set fair for the Champions League.
45+4 mins: A late corner for Watford. Pereyra takes it, and Welbeck flicks a header over the bar from well wide of the near post.
45+3 mins: Bournemouth have retaken the lead against Everton, through Dominic Solanke, and Watford drop back down to 19th.
45+2 mins: Mariappa replaces Femenia, who was kicked in the calf by Aubameyang without the referee noticing.
45+1 mins: There will be four minutes of stoppage time. The first penalty took four minutes on its own.
45 mins: Before the free-kick can be taken, Kiko Femenia is down and has his hands over his face, and this looks like it might be the end of his season.
45 mins: Xhaka fouls Sarr near the right-hand corner of the area, gets annoyed about the award of the free-kick, and is booked for dissent.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Watford (Deeney, 43 mins)
Martinez stays standing, not unwisely given Deeney’s habit of blasting it down the middle, but this time Deeney blasts it a bit to the right and Watford have a goal!
Updated
Penalty to Watford!
42 mins: Welbeck has a shot saved, but David Luiz wipes him out an instant after the ball leaves his boot, and Watford have a chance to gain a foothold in the game.
41 mins: Some good news for Watford: Everton have equalised against Bournemouth, so they go back to 18th.
41 mins: Watford keep the ball for an age before Hughes eventually flings it into the box. Martinez comes to claim.
39 mins: Dan Dijk has equalised for Liverpool at Newcastle.
"It's a shocking goal to concede, it's schoolboy." 😡
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 26, 2020
Aubameyang gets his 2nd and surely Watford are going down! ⬇
📺 Watch on Sky Sports Premier League
📱 Follow #ARSWAT here: https://t.co/xV9DJlIH4Y
📲 Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/EVcG5EAQN8
38 mins: Sarr has a weak left-footed shot from 20 yards, which deflects through to Martinez.
37 mins: Watford have had the stuffing completely knocked out of them by the sheer awfulness of everything. They’re still playing kind of OK, but they look ready to collapse again at any moment.
36 mins: Arsenal win a corner, and this at least Watford manage to defend.
35 mins: Pereyra trips Tierney, and is booked.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Watford (Aubameyang, 33 mins)
This is hideous from the Watford defence. Just inexcusable. Tierney’s long throw goes through to Aubameyang, who controls and then overheads in from the near post.
Updated
30 mins: Both players have recovered. Holding plays a wonderful pass to Lacazette, which he controls brilliantly, leaving Kabasele floundering, but Dawson gets back to make a key challenge.
27 mins: Deeney flattens Maitland-Niles, and then Pereyra is flattened by a combination of Pepe and Holding. Both require the physios’ attention.
26 mins: Watford have been the better team by miles. The players take drinks, and Arteta gives his players a rollicking. Somehow they’re two up, from one shot on target.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Watford (Hughes own goal, 24 mins)
Unbelievable. This will be given to Tierney, but was probably going wide before it flicked off Hughes’s arm!
Updated
23 mins: Deeney crosses low from the right, but the ball runs across the area and out the other side, with Welbeck flat-footed.
22 mins: Brighton are winning at Burnley, and as it stands Arsenal are eighth.
20 mins: Another Watford corner. This is surely their best 15 minutes since the final whistle blew on the victory over Liverpool in March. Bodes well for their promotion push.
18 mins: Chance for Watford! Lacazette stands up a cross from the right and Deeney, with the goal gaping, heads it into Holding’s face!
17 mins: Other than the fact they’re losing, they’re now 19th and basically doomed, this has been a great start for Watford. They win a corner, which ends up at Dawson’s feat. He falls down, under Lacazette’s challenge, but there’ll be no poetic justice here.
16 mins: Lacazette’s low cross flicks off Dawson’s boot into Masina’s arm. It was obviously unintentional.
GOAL FOR BOURNEMOUTH!
14 mins: Josh King has put Bournemouth ahead from the penalty spot at Everton, and as it stands they leapfrog Watford to go 18th, with the Hornets 19th.
13 mins: Watford ludicrously fail to score! Sarr is played through by Femenia, cuts onto his left foot, then instead of shooting passes to Doucoure, who instead of shooting takes a touch, then the ball breaks to Pereyra, whose shot is saved!
11 mins: Elsewhere Norwich took the lead at Manchester City, VAR disallowed it, and now Jesus has put the hosts ahead. Newcastle lead Liverpool 1-0.
Updated
10 mins: Watford win a corner, and Dawson is judged to have committed another foul in the penalty area. This one I’m not sure about.
10 mins: Watford are actually playing pretty well here. Arsenal have done nothing since the penalty.
8 mins: Not only are they now trailing, that ludicrously drawn-out VAR decision took nearly four minutes out of the game. It’ll be interesting to see how much stoppage time we get this half.
7 mins: A shot on target for Watford, but Sarr’s overhead is limp.
6 mins: Watford’s foot-shooting skills really are astonishingly well-honed. To concede a mindless penalty in the first minute of this of all games really is remarkable.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Watford (Aubameyang, 5 mins)
Foster goes to his left, the ball goes to his right, and Watford are a goal down!
Updated
4 mins: I think it’s the right decision. Dawson just barged Lacazette from behind, no attempt to get the ball.
Penalty to Arsenal!
3 mins: Disaster for Watford! They have conceded a penalty within the first 60 seconds (though it took the VAR nearly three minutes to make his mind up). First they had to decide whether Aubameyang was offside in the build-up, and it’s eventually decided that he wasn’t, by a hair!
Updated
2 mins: VAR is looking at this, so the goal kick has not been taken.
1 min: Early drama, as Aubameyang crosses from the left, Lacazette collapses under Dawson’s challenge, and Ceballos shoots over from 20 yards.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Watford get the game started!
The players are out, and are very close to completing the pre-kick-off formalities. Deep breath now.
Updated
“I think it’s a bit unfair to call Arteta a ‘disrespectful git’ when it’s not inconceivable the team (from a squad of internationals) he picked against Villa should really have beaten them,” writes Stephen Hennessy. “They also finished the game with about five forwards and Kolasinac lumbering around on his own at the back. Finally, what do you expect him to say prior to this game - that he doesn’t respect the relegation battle?”
I think he should simply say that he’s the manager of Arsenal and isn’t employed to consider the interests of any other team. Anything else is disingenuous.
The Watford players are gathering in the tunnel. Can they? Will they?
“Watching a match in late July with empty stands,” writes Kari Tulinius, “reminds me of idly flipping through channels in late summers past, alighting on some international youth tournament being inexplicably broadcast on a channel usually devoted to reruns of Golden Girls and getting drawn into Slovakia U20-Zimbabwe U20 while a lovely summer evening slips away. Have I wasted my life? Nah.” As someone whose team sadly has it all to do today, I yearn for a genuinely stress-free football-watching experience.
Apparently Wigan in 2011 were the last team to start the final game of the season inside the bottom three and stay up. This is surprising. I am surprised.
Mikel Arteta has a chat with Sky, and he’s busy respecting the relegation battle again:
We need to get momentum and confidence and we need to do that today. Obviously we know how much it means to them, but what it means as well for the other teams involved in the relegation battle and that’s one of the main reasons as well we have to take this game very seriously.
I assume from the line-up that Watford are going to play 4-4-2 today, with Welbeck and Deeney together up front, Sarr on the right and Pereyra on the left. I can’t believe it has taken them until the final day of the season to give Deeney, who is so much better in a two than he is on his own, a partner to play with. It means they have a more attacking lineup today than in any other game this season - they do have to win, but their position might be different if they had done this a while ago.
“Surely Arsenal made their changes v Villa because they have a squad of players and some might conceivably have needed a rest after a hard FA Cup semi final vs “the second best team in Europe” and 12 games in 30 days or whatever stupid amount of fixtures they have had?” posits Paul Roome. Oh, absolutely. Arteta picked the team he wanted/needed to pick on the day. Which is fine, but the result did skew the relegation battle in Villa’s favour, and that team selection means he can’t then blather on about respecting said battle without looking like a git, in my opinion.
Updated
Arsenal won’t be playing a back four today, Mikel Arteta confirms. That’s as much as he’ll admit to at the moment, though.
🃏 There's keeping your cards close to your chest...
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 26, 2020
And then there's this from @m8arteta 🤣#ARSWAT pic.twitter.com/Y66LeISnKY
Eddie Howe says training has been “very intense”. “The early part of the game will be really important for us to build some momentum. We know what we have to do, so I anticipate the players will be giving everything. We looked at past seasons, just the unpredictability of the final day. We just have to do our job today and hope for that unpredictability in the other games.
I’ve got to say that Hayden Mullins, Watford’s caretaker bench-warmer, doesn’t look like the most inspiring of speakers. Maybe he’s just got a very straight media face. “The main feeling is they want to get the game going,” he says of his charges. “I’m sure they want the whistle to start the game and we want to go out and try and perform. They know the whole club’s behind them, the fans and everyone. They know the job they’ve got to do today, it’s just about staying focused and trying to get the result we need.”
The support and assistance offered by Watford to staff at neighbouring Watford General as well as other West Herts hospitals during lockdown was impressive, and even if events on the pitch this season haven’t exactly been encouraging the club’s continued community focus does reflect well on their ownership, and on their chairman, Scott Duxbury. Hopefully they will continue to look like safe hands in another year or two.
Our neighbours @WatfordFC have been with us every step of our COVID journey, so in true #TeamWestHerts sprit, we are sending them all the encouragement and support we can for today's match…. We will be cheering as LOUD as we can…...COME ON YOU 'ORNS! #watfordfc #ARSWAT pic.twitter.com/ZWuVHS3kwu
— West Herts Hospitals (@WestHertsNHS) July 26, 2020
The line-ups in today’s two other relegation-related games:
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Branthwaite, Keane, Digne, Walcott, Andre Gomes, Davies, Sigurdsson, Kean, Richarlison. Subs: Baines, Calvert-Lewin, Sidibe, Bernard, Stekelenburg, Virginia, Baningime, Gordon, Simms.
Bournemouth: Ramsdale, Smith, Steve Cook, Kelly, Rico, Brooks, Gosling, Lerma, King, Callum Wilson, Solanke. Subs: Boruc, Ake, Danjuma, Lewis Cook, Stacey, Stanislas, Harry Wilson, Billing, Surridge.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh.
West Ham: Fabianski, Johnson, Diop, Ogbonna, Fredericks, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Noble, Fornals, Antonio. Subs: Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Lanzini, Wilshere, Haller, Xande Silva, Randolph, Coventry.
Aston Villa: Reina, Guilbert, Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Hourihane, Trezeguet, Samatta, Grealish. Subs: Taylor, Lansbury, Nakamba, El Ghazi, Jota, Nyland, Hause, Vassilev, Davis.
Referee: Michael Oliver.
Updated
“Today is more than three points,” says Abdoulaye Doucoure, “it’s the game of our lives.” Carpe the bloody diem, lads.
"It's the game of our lives."@abdoudoucoure16 💬#ARSWAT pic.twitter.com/BPseJWS3Zf
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) July 26, 2020
I’m just not sure that form can be turned on like a tap, from dry to gushing, and even if it can why there should be any rational expectation that a team that has so miserably failed to do so for months can suddenly manage it today. But still, where there’s life there’s hope.
Massive game for @WatfordFC today. Good luck to the watford lads it can be done🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾
— lloyd doyley (@LDX2012) July 26, 2020
So Arsenal, with Aston Villa and Watford to play within the space of five days, make six changes for the Villa game, lose it miserably, then Mikel Arteta insists that because “we have to respect that there are a few teams in the relegation battle and we are responsible for that as well” and goes back as close as possible to the full-strength side that started last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City for the game against Watford. He’s got his own issues to worry about, and there’s no reason why he should give two hoots about Watford or anyone else, but if he was motivated at all by genuine respect for the teams in the relegation battle he should have started this game with the same players that lined up at Villa Park, surely?
The teams!
Arsenal: Martinez, Holding, Luiz, Tierney, Willock, Ceballos, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang. Subs: Papastathopoulos, Torreira, Cedric, Nelson, Nketiah, Kolasinac, Macey, Smith, Saka.
Watford: Foster, Femenia, Kabasele, Dawson, Masina, Doucoure, Hughes, Sarr, Pereyra, Welbeck, Deeney. Subs: Gomes, Mariappa, Cleverley, Chalobah, Cathcart, Joao Pedro, Gray, Quina, Pussetto.
Referee: Mike Dean.
🚨 Five changes from midweek...
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 26, 2020
➡️ Maitland-Niles, Tierney, Xhaka, Willock, Pepe
⬅️ Cedric, Kolasinac, Torreira, Saka, Nketiah#ARSWAT
🚨 TEAM NEWS 🚨
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) July 26, 2020
Two changes for the Hornets...
⬅️ Mariappa & Cleverley
➡️ Masina & Welbeck#ARSWAT pic.twitter.com/NuaynMVZbr
Hello world!
In 2015 Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich were promoted together to the Premier League. Today they will go down together – unless, that is, we have ourselves some last-day fun.
The key fixtures are these:
Arsenal v Watford
Everton v Bournemouth
West Ham v Aston Villa
I’ll be keeping an eye on all of them, but concentrating on the Emirates where the situation facing Watford is clear: lose and they’re gone, unless Aston Villa themselves lose by a margin at least two goals greater; get more points than Aston Villa and they stay up; win by two or more goals than an also-victorious Villa and they are also saved. As for the other relegation-haunted teams, Bournemouth need to win and for both of Villa and Watford to lose; Villa need to match or better Watford’s result, and for Bournemouth not to win if they lose.
Norwich have been in the bottom three since the first weekend of October; Bournemouth have been there since February; Watford have been out since 1 March, until Villa’s win over Arsenal on Wednesday plunged them neck-deep back into trouble.
There somehow seems to be something preordained about Villa’s survival. There was their home game against Watford in January, when they were a goal down with just over 20 minutes to play, Tyrone Mings, already on a booking, got away with a clear handball, and then got the winning goal with the last kick of the game (I say kick, it was mostly off his arse). There was their first game after the restart, when Sheffield United scored a perfectly good goal that wasn’t awarded because the goalline technology broke and the VAR was asleep. There was their first win after the restart, when Crystal Palace had a perfectly good opening goal disallowed because the VAR was a bit confused about human anatomy and Villa ended up snaffling victory. There’s no suggestion of conspiracy here, but ye gods have certainly been smiling upon them.
Nobody’s been smiling on Watford, not for a long time now. They have not played a single game since the restart when they have not, at some stage, been losing. Five of the eight games have also ended with them losing. There have been a couple of wins, neither very impressive. At the end of the last one, against Newcastle a couple of weeks back, they were six points clear of Villa and Bournemouth with four to play and a small goal difference cushion to boot, enough – or so I thought – for safety. The following day Villa beat Palace, Bournemouth smashed a self-destructing Leicester, and a safe perch became a slippery slope.
Today the trapdoor opens. It will soon be time to decide who falls through.
As for Arsenal, it is 15 years since they last finished outside the league’s top six. They will end this season between eighth and 10th. Next week’s FA Cup final will, you’d have thought, be a greater priority at the moment.
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