Arsenal 2 v 0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Aston Villa 2 v 1 Chelsea
Fulham 0 v 2 Newcastle United
Leicester City 2 v 4 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 2 v 0 Crystal Place
West Ham United 3 v 0 Southampton
All played Sunday 23 May 2021, last day of 2020-2021 Premier League season.
If nothing else Ryan Mason has put the “Spursy” way of doing things back into Tottenham Hotspur in his short time as Interim Head Coach. They had to win away at FA Cup Winners Leicester City and looked unlikely after 2 Jamie Vardy penalties. Then Harry Kane’sequalizer gave him his 3rd Golden Boot (23 goals) and first Golden Playmaker (14 assists) awards, before Gareth Bale’s winning brace made it 11 Premier League (PL) goals in 900 minutes.
The success story of the Premier London Derbies (PLDs) Clubs this season has been West Ham United who deservedly held on to 6th spot and the other Europa League place with a comfortable win over Southampton. Crystal Palace could not provide the perfect send-off for Roy Hodgson becoming part of the steamroller run of 8 wins and 2 draws in their last 10 PL matches by Liverpool who finished 3rd.
That win assured Spurs (7th) of some sort of European football in the new European Conference League and kept Arsenal out despite their home win against Brighton and Hove Albion. The North London rivalry might have been settled but ironically Chelsea did very well out of the Lilywhites’ win despite their defeat at Aston Villa, since it pushed the Foxesdown to 5th giving the Blues the 4th and last Champions’ League place.
Fulham left the PL with a whimper going down at home to Newcastle United for whom the on-loan Gunners’ starlet Joe Willock equalled the PL all-time top scorer Alan Shearer’s (260 goals) Magpies Club record of scoring in 7 consecutive PL games. Next season we welcome back Watford to the PLDs but will it be Brentford too who thereby become the 50th PL Club?
We are taking a break now, but I am sure you will be watching the transfer market and the Managers’ merry-go-round let alone the Euros and Chelsea in the all English Champions’ League Final against PL Champions Manchester City in Portugal.
Until next time, “Keep Safe” and best wishes, Andrew at PLDs.