The last weekend of the Premier League gave us one of the highest scoring weekends ever seen. There were no fewer than 37 goals, 7 of which were scored by Tottenham and 5 for both Chelsea and Manchester City.
Liverpool needed a win against Middlesbrough to secure a top-four finish and they cruised to a 3-0 win with goals from Wijnaldum, Coutinho and Lallana. That result, along with Manchester City’s 5-0 thrashing of Watford conspired to deny Arsenal a Champions League place in the process. Had they qualified, Arsenal would have qualified for 20 consecutive Champions League tournaments, a record which is only bettered by Real Madrid (who have been ever-present in the tournament with 21 consecutive appearances), although Real Madrid have managed to win the tournament in that time.
Chelsea rounded off their title-winning season in style and despite going a goal down after 3 minutes to already relegated Sunderland, goals from Willian, Hazard, Pedro and a double from Batshuayi saw them run out 5-1 winners. With 93 points and 85 goals scored, head coach Antonio Conte will be delighted with his players’ efforts this season and now focus on their upcoming FA Cup final appearance against Arsenal.
This season will be remembered by Tottenham Hotspur fans as the season where Harry Kane made the step up and confirmed himself as a world class striker. He scored his second hat-trick in two games and with six-hat-tricks for the season, he took his total Premier League goals to 29 this season, making him top league scorer, four ahead of nearest rival Romelu Lukaku. Spurs finished top scorers in the league with 86 goals, one more than champions Chelsea.
The relegation battle was a bit of a letdown and was decided weeks ago. Sunderland had a pathetic season and manager David Moyes resigned on Monday. Middlesbrough, who never managed to win away from home all season, had a reasonable start but were quickly found out and shown to be way out of their depth. Hull City finished in 17th, 6 points behind a terrible Watford side who lost their last five matches on the bounce.
Manchester United ran out comfortable 2-0 winners in a dead-rubber match against Crystal Palace. United have 90 minutes left to save their season as they gear up for the Europa League final in Stockholm on Wednesday. They face an Ajax side who have impressed recently and with a Champions League place at stake, Manchester United will know the significance this match has now taken on.
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