And with that, I’m done. Here’s the bottom of the table with one game to play:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 37 | -3 | 43 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 37 | -10 | 38 |
| 18 | West Ham | 37 | -22 | 36 |
| 19 | Burnley | 37 | -37 | 21 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 37 | -41 | 19 |
And here’s David Hytner’s match report. Bye!
Roberto De Zerbi gives his reaction to Tottenham’s defeat:
We created the first chance to score with Tel, it was a big save from Sanchez, then we conceded one great goal, because Enzo Fernandes we could do something better. We lost a stupid goal to concede the second goal, but before the second goal we created a big, big chance. I think we played a very good game. We lost. But now is not the right time to think too much of this game. We have to prepare the next game. We play in our stadium, with our fans. We have to get a result, with our qualities, our character. But I’m positive, because today we played a good game.
Why no substitutions until they scored a second?
The ball was inside of the pitch. But you know the physical condition of James Maddison, he’s not available to play more than 20, 25 minutes and I was waiting to spend two or three minutes more and to make this change. All three players changed the energy. James Maddison can’t play more than 20, 25 minutes because it’s just two weeks with us, but he’s important in the last 20 minutes.
Do Tottenham have the resilience they need?
I think we had a great reaction after the first goal. After the second goal as well. I think in my time we made eight points in six games. I think we deserved more points because we lost two points with Brighton. Now we have to prepare the last game in the best way. We are alive. We are in the right spirit. We have all the qualities to achieve our target.
While we’re waiting for the managers’ reaction at Chelsea, John Brewin was at the Vitality Stadium to watch Manchester City’s title challenge falter, and here’s his report:
Here is where the story ends. Congratulations, Arsenal, champions of England after 22 years. Farewell then, Pep Guardiola, 10 years of dominance ending in anticlimax. Two domestic cups counts as a disappointment in Pep terms. There will be no treble celebration at Manchester’s Co-op Arena leaving party on Monday. Eli Junior Kroupi wrote his name in north London legend for ever, as the title race reached its conclusion on the south coast. Erling Haaland’s late equaliser was nowhere near enough.
Much more here:
David Hytner was at Stamford Bridge tonight, and here is his match report:
Tottenham’s woes in this corner of London are well-established and well-documented. When they made this latest trip to Stamford Bridge, the statistics showed they had won just once since 1990 – a sequence of 40 matches in all competitions.
Never mind. They needed only a draw to effectively ensure their Premier League survival, to send West Ham down and draw a veil over this most wretched of seasons. It was a night when the hope pulsed until the last. Chelsea led through goals from Enzo Fernández and Andrey Santos but Spurs rallied, Richarlison scoring on 74 minutes to set up the grandstand finale.
It was too little, too late from Spurs and their fate will now be decided on the final day on Sunday when they welcome Everton to their stadium, where they have the joint-worst home record in the division. They may still need a point to stay in it. The nightmare is not over.
Much more here:
It was Kolo Muani who gave the ball to Palmer before Chelsea’s second goal, and he had an absolute stinker tonight. He was just completely wretched.
Looking at the opening goal again, Kinsky just takes so long to start his dive. The shot is taken from not far off 35 yards, but the ball has past the penalty spot before the keeper’s moved. It’s an excellent shot, but that’s bizarrely leaden-footed goalkeeping.
So, to reiterate, Arsenal are this season’s Premier League champions. Niall McVeigh has all the live reaction:
And here’s our news story:
The final day fixtures in full (all games kick off at 4pm BST):
Brighton v Manchester United
Burnley v Wolves
Crystal Palace v Arsenal
Fulham v Newcastle
Liverpool v Brentford
Manchester City v Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth
Sunderland v Chelsea
Tottenham v Everton
West Ham v Leeds
And the league table as it stands:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 37 | 43 | 82 |
| 2 | Man City | 37 | 43 | 78 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 37 | 16 | 68 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 37 | 6 | 62 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 37 | 10 | 59 |
| 6 | AFC Bournemouth | 37 | 4 | 56 |
| 7 | Brighton | 37 | 9 | 53 |
| 8 | Chelsea | 37 | 7 | 52 |
| 9 | Brentford | 37 | 3 | 52 |
| 10 | Sunderland | 37 | -7 | 51 |
| 11 | Newcastle | 37 | 0 | 49 |
| 12 | Everton | 37 | -2 | 49 |
| 13 | Fulham | 37 | -6 | 49 |
| 14 | Leeds | 37 | -4 | 47 |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 37 | -9 | 45 |
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 37 | -3 | 43 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 37 | -10 | 38 |
| 18 | West Ham | 37 | -22 | 36 |
| 19 | Burnley | 37 | -37 | 21 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 37 | -41 | 19 |
So one round of fixtures remains. What we know, and what remains to be decided:
Champions: Arsenal
Champions League: Man City, Man Utd, Aston Villa
The final Champions League spot: Liverpool are three points ahead of Bournemouth, with goal difference superior by six. Liverpool play Brentford at home, Bournemouth visit Nottingham Forest.
Europa League: Bournemouth or Liverpool. Plus one of Brighton, who are on 53 points with a goal difference of +9, Chelsea, on 52 and +7, and Brentford, also on 52 and +3. Brighton host Manchester United, Chelsea visit Sunderland, Brentford at Liverpool.
Conference League: Whichever team finishes second in the three-way battle between Brighton, Chelsea and Sunderland. Things could change if Aston Villa end up fifth, and win the Europa League.
Relegated: Wolves, Burnley, plus one of West Ham, who are on 36 with a goal difference of -22, and Spurs, on 38 with a goal difference of -10. Spurs host Everton, West Ham host Leeds.
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Final score: Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham
90+8 mins: It’s all over! Chelsea go up to eighth; Tottenham remain a point from (near-certain) safety.
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90+8 mins: They come up with one late, late attack, but Tel’s cross from the right is poor, and straight to Sanchez.
90+7 mins: Spurs have done nothing much with this stoppage time, and only seconds of it remain.
90+4 mins: It’s not a good free kick, and it threatens only the fans behind the goal.
90+3 mins: Caicedo brings down Gallagher just outside the Chelsea area, and Maddison places the ball for the free-kick.
90+2 mins: Another booking, Essugo seeing yellow for a tired (oddly, as he came on in the 89th minute) challenge on Van de Ven.
90+1 mins: There’ll be seven minutes of stoppage time, with Spurs one goal from salvation.
88 mins: A triple change for Chelsea, now. On comes Garnacho, Mheuka and Essugo and off goes Palmer, Delap and Pedro Neto.
“We’re going down, I’m !00% percent sure,” writes Dom in Florence, a Spurs fan. “Arsenal winning the title just confirms it. We only needed one point from two games, sure, but it’s never going to happen. This team couldn’t win a one ticket raffle. They would lose a game of noughts and crosses to a duck. It’s written in the stars, Hammers dig in and get a result against an in form Leeds. We meekly surrender to an out of form Everton at home. I leave football behind to become a yak herder in Uzbekistan, but the guy I share a yurt with reveals he wears an Arsenal shirt at night. My face is pressed up to its badge as our shared hammock forces us together. He snores loudly. Ultimately, You can’t change the future.”
87 mins: This is really chaotic now. A long, bouncing ball is contested by Delap and Spence. Delap carefully watches Spence’s positioning before jumping into the player, and is booked for the foul.
87 mins: The corner is eventually taken, and Sanchez fumbles his catch but gathers at the second attempt.
85 mins: All sorts of pulling and tugging inside the penalty area as the corner is taken. The referee blows his whistle, and books Cucurella. VAR checks the incident, and decides the foul took place before the ball was in play.
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84 mins: Spurs should equalise! Richarlison tees up Maddison, who sets himself, takes aim, and waits just long enough for Hato to come across and block!
82 mins: Before they take the free-kick Chelsea bring on Sarr for Fofana. Palmer takes the free-kick, but sends it into the wall.
80 mins: A long pass from defence releases Delap down the right. Fernandez is available in the middle but instead Delap delays for a while. The crowd shouts angrily at the lack of impetus, but eventually he passes to Fernandez, who has run towards him to offer an easy option, and Sarr sticks out a leg for the Argentinian to fall over.
70 mins: Hato is booked. He looks bemused by it, and Sky certainly didn’t show TV viewers whatever caused it, but apparently it was for delaying a restart.
77 mins: Richarlison arrives late to bump into Caicedo, and then goes down clutching various bits of his anatomy and rolling about. It’s all a bit odd. Eventually he gets up.
75 mins: Chelsea make their first substitution, bringing Chalobah on for Acheampong.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham (Richarlison, 74 mins)
A lifeline for Tottenham! Pedro Porro pulls back to Sarr, whose backheel was presumably intended to fly into the net but instead bobbles to Richarlison, who turns it in!
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72 mins: Save! Spurs end up crossing from the right, and Gallagher volleys pretty tamely at Sanchez.
72 mins: Spurs attack, and for a while they have seven players inside the Chelsea penalty area. The downside of which being they get in each other’s way, and are forced to turn back.
69 mins: Spurs were readying a triple change before the goal, and they’ve gone ahead with it: Sarr, Maddison and Spence have come on, with Udogie, Joao Palhinha and Kolo Muani going off.
68 mins: The ball is presented to Palmer in the centre circle, and he passes right to Pedro Neto, who crosses beyond the far post to Enzo Fernandes, and his cushioned volleyed pass leaves Andrey Santos with an easy task!
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham (Andrey Santos, 67 mins)
And that should seal it! Spurs give the ball away, and Chelsea punish them!
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65 mins: Kolo Muani has the ball on the right, and sends in a rubbish low centre. I’ve not seen a huge number of Spurs games this season but I have watched them several times recently and have found the French forward a source of constant perplexity.
63 mins: Udogie sprints 60 yards to offer Tel an option and is so frustrated by the quality of the pass sent, at least in theory, towards him that he brings down Fofana and gets himself booked.
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61 mins: Delap hassles Danso, who flirts with giving the ball to him in what would be, for Spurs, a disastrous position but just about avoids actually doing so.
58 mins: Richarlison wins the header from a Porro corner, but Sanchez saves it pretty easily. It is Tottenham’s first shot on target.
57 mins: Spurs are having a decent period. The last time they exerted this level of control for any length of time, Chelsea went and scored.
56 mins: Pedro Neto is found in space on the right flank. With crushing inevitability he carries the ball into the area, cuts onto his left foot and shoots towards the far post, but straight into a defender.
Arsenal are Premier League champions
54 mins: The final whistle blows at Bournemouth, where it has ended 1-1. Haaland’s equaliser, in the fifth minute of stoppage time, has improved Manchester City’s record after being behind at half-time, but has not extended the title race. A single point for City means Arsenal now cannot be caught!
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51 mins: Tel sends in a fine cross from the right that gives Richarlison a superb scoring chance with a header, about eight yards out. The Brazilian heads it way, way wide and turns out to have also been way, way offside.
50 mins: The game is stopped for a while, because Cole Palmer has a minor issue with a boot.
47 mins: Spurs have been trailing at half-time in 16 games this season. They’ve lost 12 of those, and not won any. It’s not a great record. The worst record in the Premier League this season? Manchester City, who have been losing at half-time twice and lost both games. Tonight they’re set to make it three out of three.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Game back on!
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Right then, players back out. No halftimely changes to report.
Meanwhile at Bournemouth, Manchester City are 10 minutes away from defeat and Arsenal thus 10 minutes away from the title. Tonight is not going Tottenham’s way at all.
Half time: Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham
45+2 mins: And that’s half-time! A really interesting half but not a great one: just one really good chance, which Tel headed onto a post, and a goal from nothing from Fernandez.
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45+1 mins: Space and time for Palmer on the edge of the D, but on this occasion it’s D for Drags his shot wide.
45 mins: Now Caicedo goes down clutching his face like he’s been assaulted, after Gallagher touches him gently on the shoulder. Again, no cards, but the referee gets both captains together for a word.
44 mins: Pedro Neto takes the free-kick, from wide on Chelsea’s right. I don’t know if he intended to shoot but it looks like it’s also heading barwards until Kinsky catches it.
43 mins: But now Van de Ven gets a yellow one, for holding back Delap and then, when that doesn’t achieve much, giving his shirt a good yank.
42 mins: Gallagher barges Cucurella off the ball, sending the Spaniard flying, and even after he gets up and dusts himself down the two mutter angrily at each other for a while. No cards are shown.
41 mins: Spurs try to play in Kolo Muani, but Sanchez comes out to get there first.
39 mins: Both sides are mainly attacking down their left. For Chelsea this is because of Cucurella’s overlaps add such danger down their left flank, and for Spurs it’s because Kolo Muani’s ineffable rubbishness ruins most things that go down their right.
36 mins: Spurs get the ball to Tel, who gets the ball onto his right foot. So far so good. We won’t mention the shot.
32 mins: Tottenham took 10 minutes or so to get over the goal, but have been competitive again for the last few minutes. They attack down their right, but Kolo Muani’s cross is abysmal.
29 mins: Fernandez hits the bar from the free-kick! With everyone expecting a cross, Fernandez has another outlandish shot and isn’t far off finding the net again, the ball dipping onto the bar with Kinsky flailing!
28 mins: Cucurella, who’s having a fine game down the Chelsea left, pushes the ball beyond Porro’s sliding challenge and enthusiastically goes over the Spaniard’s prone form. Porro is booked as a result.
26 mins: Chelsea win a corner, and Joao Palhinha heads it away.
25 mins: “I’m a fan of neither Chelsea nor Brazil, but I still find myself annoyed that João Pedro’s been left out of the World Cup.” tuts Kari Tulinius. “I have not enjoyed watching Chelsea, as a whole, this season, but João Pedro is such a delight to watch. Even his decoy runs are interesting, let alone his intelligence with the ball at his feet.” I’m a huge fan of Joao Pedro’s first touch. I could just watch him receive the ball. I’d have him in, for aesthetic reasons alone.
23 mins: Caicedo’s beautiful pass releases Cucurella on the left. He pulls back to Palmer, who nudges into the path of Delap, who biffs a shot wide from just inside the area.
21 mins: Looking at replays Kinsky’s initial movement was to his left, which is all it took to remove him from the contest when the ball ended up going well to his right. It curled a long way, but that instinctive first leftwards shuffle looked really quite odd.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham (Fernandez, 18 mins)
… Enzo Fernandez has just curled one past Kinsky from over 30 yards! It’s a lovely shot, curling and dipping perfectly into the corner, but it’s surprising to see a keeper beaten quite so emphatically from quite that distance by a shot that isn’t exactly vicious.
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17 mins: This is the best I’ve seen Spurs for a long while, and they’ve dominated the opening stages here. But they haven’t made the most of the one chance they’ve had, and meanwhile …
14 mins: Now a chance for Chelsea, as Palmer plays a neat one-two before curling a left-footed 20-yarder that Kinsky pushes round the post.
11 mins: Spurs hit the post! Porro’s cross from the right dips and curls perfectly onto the head of Tel at the back stick – Acheampong was in front of him but his attempt to reach the ball first can be charitably described as half-arsed – but instead of going back across goal he tries to beat Sanchez at the near, and the keeper would probably have kept it out had the post not done the job for him.
8 mins: A nice Chelsea move is rewarded with a corner, when Cucurella’s cross deflects behind, but nothing comes of it.
6 mins: Joao Palhinha lands on Palmer’s foot and concedes a free-kick. Palmer leaps about on one leg for a while, but is fine to continue.
4 mins: Nearly a fabulous own goal! Porro spears a pass towards Richarlison and Fofana’s heavy touch flies wide of Sanchez but also wide of goal.
3 mins: A quiet start, with Kolo Muani’s cross straight into the arms of Sanchez the only time either penalty area has been bothered.
1 min: Peeeeeeep!
The players are out, hands have been shaken and preambles completed. Spurs are going to kick off, and they’re going to do it soon.
The players are in the tunnel! And over in Bournemouth, Manchester City are in arrears! As things stand, if no further goals are scored tonight, Arsenal will win the league and West Ham will be (all but) relegated.
Joao Pedro has just been presented with his Chelsea player of the season award, which is a remarkably understated thing, a similar size and shape to the standard Premier League player of the match awards and not at all of the ostentatious magnificence that I’d expect for such a thing.
Calum McFarlane has a quick chat with Sky. He’s not in very chatty mood. On tonight’s team changes, he says that “we had a big game on Saturday, so there’s a few lads carrying some knocks. We needed to freshen up the squad.” And on whether Xabi Alonso has been in touch with any requests or instructions: “No. It’s been the same prep for the last three games. Nothing different there.”
Roberto De Zerbi has a pre-match chat:
The message is to play with order [I think Order is what he said]. To fight on the pitch but to enjoy on the ball, because my players are good and they have to play like they can.
Is the Alonso factor going to make a difference tonight?
For us, nothing changes. He’s a great coach, but it’s not my club. For us the focus is to play well, to play a good game. We are suffering this season. It’s not finished yet, because it’s still tough. But I’m positive for my players.
And on why Antonin Kinsky remains in goal despite the return of Guglielmo Vicario:
Vicario is still No1. Kinsky has played very very well the last two games and for this game I didn’t want to take risks. And Vicario, he’s available but he’s not 100%. We found the best decision for the team.
In the chat about Alonso that follows, Daniel Sturridge says of that interview: “You could see Cole Palmer was buoyant, can’t wait to play for him.” You could only just tell that Palmer was conscious.
A couple of players have quick chats with Sky. First, Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie:
We know today’s a massive game for us. We can end the season the right way. It’s a London derby, so we want to make sure we’re ready for the game. We’re prepared for everything, hopefully it’s going to be a good game.
It’s fair to say that Cole Palmer could have looked more interested in being interviewed about the potential impact of Xabi Alonso’s imminent arrival:
Yeah, everyone’s excited. He’s a top manager, so we can’t wait to get started. We shouldn’t need the motivation, but we are going to want to impress the new manager.
Tonight’s other Premier League game sees Manchester City visit Bournemouth in the knowledge that anything but victory would hand the title to Arsenal. Rob Smyth is watching that one, which kicks off at 7.30pm, 45 minutes before this:
The teams!
Tonight’s lineups, with Tottenham unchanged. Chelsea make four changes to the side that started the FA Cup final:
Chelsea: Sanchez; Fofana, Acheampong, Hato, Cucurella; Andrey Santos, Caicedo; Palmer, Fernandez, Pedro Neto; Delap. Subs: Essugo, Chalobah, Derry, Garnacho, James, Jorgensen, Kavuma-MccQueen, Mheuka, Sarr.
Tottenham: Kinsky; Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Bentancur; Kolo Muani, Gallagher, Tel; Richarlison. Subs: Bergvall, Bissouma, Dragusin, Gray, Maddison, Sarr, Spence, Vicario, Souza.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.
VAR: John Brooks.
Southampton kicked out of Championship playoffs
Just the most extraordinary thing, this. An entire season, in the bin. Southampton admitted spying not just on Middlesbrough before their playoff semi-final, but Oxford last December (before their Boxing Day fixture, which Oxford won 2-1) and Ipswich in April (before a game that ended 2-2). One might conclude, though obviously it would be pure speculation, that if they did it three times they may have done it more often than that. Anyway, they’re out of the playoff final, and will start next season on -4 points.
Here’s our story on the punishment, which will be updated as the details become clearer:
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Hello world!
A huge game, this, for at least three clubs, and probably biggest of all for the one that isn’t playing.
If Tottenham win tonight, West Ham will be relegated. If Tottenham draw tonight, West Ham will also be relegated – but not until Sunday (because it wouldn’t be mathematically certain this evening, there still being a chance that Spurs will lose their last game by six goals while West Ham win theirs by seven and stay up on goals scored). If Tottenham lose the whole business will roll through to the weekend, and if they lose by lots things really get interesting down towards the bottom of the table.
Chelsea though are significantly incentivised. Having missed the chance to secure a place in Europe by winning the FA Cup, they go into the game in 10th place, currently outside the qualifying spots. But if they win tonight they’d move into eighth, above Brentford on goal difference, and be back on track for at least a place in the Conference League. They could then make sure of a place in the Europa League by winning at Sunderland on the final day, so long as (deep breath) Brighton don’t simultaneously beat Manchester United, unless Bournemouth – who host Manchester City in tonight’s earlier kick-off – don’t get any more points, and so long as assuming Brentford fail to beat Liverpool so convincingly they go back above them on goal difference. This is, to be sure, all a bit complicated but the simple version is this: Chelsea really need to win this game, and so do Spurs.
Add the fact that Chelsea’s recent home record is appalling – they’re one bad night away from losing five successive league games at Stamford Bridge for the first time ever – and the fact that their record against Tottenham (who have won one of their last 35 league games here) is extraordinary, and you’ve got all the ingredients for an intriguing evening.
Pre-match reading: Here’s David Hytner on Spurs and Roberto De Zerbi, who thinks “everyone wants Tottenham relegated”:
De Zerbi has spoken to his squad about the Stamford Bridge hoodoo but mainly to tell them it is not something to worry about. He has been all about the power of positive thought since he came to the club five matches ago and he leaned into it when he addressed those who would revel in Spurs’s demise.
“I am Italian and in Italy it’s the same,” De Zerbi said. “For the biggest teams, it’s the same. We have to accept the pressure. We have to enjoy this pressure. We have to find new motivation from this pressure. It’s a good thing for us. If everyone wants Tottenham relegated, it’s a big motivation for me and I hope for my players as well.”
Much more here:
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