Man United outfox Leicester
Solskjaer’s side wins a virtual Champions League playoff
Manchester United and Chelsea qualified for the Champions League at the expense of Leicester on a frantic final day of the English Premier League season yesterday, while Bournemouth and Watford were relegated to end five-year stays in the top flight.
United won 2-0 at Leicester City through goals by Bruno Fernandes and Jesse Lingard to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team a third-place finish.
Chelsea beat Wolverhampton 2-0 after a goal and an assist by Mason Mount and finished in the fourth and final Champions League qualifying place above Leicester, who were in the top four most of the season.
Leicester, instead, will play in the Europa League along with Tottenham, who drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace to secure sixth — above Wolverhampton on goal difference.
The battle to avoid the two remaining relegation places went to the wire as Aston Villa scored in the 84th minute, conceded a minute later, then held on for a 1-1 draw at West Ham to survive. Captain Jack Grealish scored Villa’s goal in what could be his last game for his boyhood club.
Bournemouth won 3-1 at Everton but ended up a point behind Villa. Watford were also relegated after losing 3-2 at Arsenal.
Manchester City passed 100 goals for the campaign with a 5-0 win over bottom club Norwich, a game that marked the last in the Premier League for David Silva after 10 years with City. Kevin De Bruyne got a recordequalling 20th assist of the season and also scored twice.
Liverpool ended their title-winning campaign with a 3-1 win at Newcastle, finishing on a club-record 99 points.
Southampton beat Sheffield United 3-1, with Danny Ings scoring his 22nd goal of the season. That left him one behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, who won the Golden Boot as the league’s highest scorer.
All Whites striker Chris Wood scored his 14th goal of the season in Burnley’s 2-1 loss at home to Brighton. Burnley have again overachieved by finishing in the top half of the table but doubts remain whether Sean Dyche, manager for almost eight years, will stay at the club.
● Andre Ayew’s terrific late strike gave Swansea a 1-0 win over 10-man Brentford in their Championship playoff first leg. Ayew, who had earlier seen his second-half penalty saved by David Raya, struck nine minutes from time at the Liberty Stadium with a ferocious volley.
● Juventus beat Sampdoria 2-0 to clinch a ninth consecutive Serie A title with two games to spare. Maurizio Sarri's side are the only team to win that many consecutive titles in one of Europe's top five leagues. It extends their own record, which Bayern Munich had matched in June.
Ronaldo scored his 31st goal of the season but missed the chance to get closer to Ciro Immobile's tally of 34 at the top of the Serie A Golden Boot standings as he struck a penalty against the crossbar in the final minutes.