Abdoulaye Doucoure ended up being the hero for Everton on a tense final day of the Premier League season as his goal helped keep the club up while Leeds and Leicester joined Southampton in being relegated to the Championship. Everton held their fate in their own hands going into the final match at home to Bournemouth.
Leicester did all they could in their bid to stay up with a win over West Ham, but it was ultimately too little too late. Meanwhile, Leeds put up a fight at home to Tottenham but didn’t have enough to get a result against the north London club.
Everton held their fate in their own hands going into the final match at home to Bournemouth. But there were clearly nerves all around Goodison Park as Everton struggled to find a breakthrough.
Leeds had the toughest task of all with a home tie against Tottenham and got off to the worst start possible after Harry Kane put the visitors 1-0 up. After that, it was a straight shootout between Leicester and Everton for survival and it was the Foxes who drew first blood.
Harvey Barnes scored the opener for Leicester against West Ham to put them above Everton in the table, who were still drawing 0-0 with Bournemouth. Boos rang around Goodison Park at half time as Sean Dyche’s side knew a drew wouldn’t be enough to survive the drop.
But the mood around Everton’s ground soon changed when Doucoure fired in a rocket of a volley from the outside of the box to put his side in front. Jubilant celebrations followed with fireworks even being let off around the ground.
It was still a precarious position though as Everton were reminded just 10 minutes later when Conor Coady got a foot in to deny Dominic Solanke on the line. Leicester had also solidified their winning position against West Ham with Wout Faes doubling their lead over the Hammers..
Evertonian hearts would have sunk when the stoppage time board showed 10 minutes, creating more nerves for the end. Bournemouth continued to push and Pickford was required to make a decent save in the final minutes to keep the south coast side at bay.
Leeds’ relegation was confirmed before Everton’s game had finished as they ended up losing 4-1 to Tottenham. Leicester’s game had also finished with the Foxes registering a 2-1 win and they were staying on the pitch to check the Everton score on their phones.
But Everton managed to hold on to the slender lead with fans immediately spilling onto the pitch to celebrate with the players. In contrast, Leicester players were seen sinking to the floor after learning of their relegation to the Championship.
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