Roundup of the penultimate round of action as the 2021-22 Premier League season began to hurtle towards its conclusion.
Manchester City entered this round looking to wrap up the title if results went in their favour, whilst top-four and relegation battles delivered more twists ahead of the final day of the season.
Weekend
Vladimir Coufal’s 69th minute own goal saw league leaders, Manchester City fight back to snatch a 2-2 draw at West Ham after Jack Grealish had halved their deficit early in the second-half, having found themselves 2-0 down at half-time due to Jarrod Bowen’s brace.
Liverpool fought back through Takumi Minamino and Joel Matip to snatch a 2-1 win away at Southampton to stay one point behind Man City in second, having initially conceded a 13th minute goal to Nathan Redmond.
Third-placed Chelsea weren’t in action due to their involvement in the FA Cup Final, where the Blues suffered a third consecutive FA Cup Final defeat – albeit this time at the hands of Liverpool on penalties.
Harry Kane’s controversial penalty deep into first-half injury time proved enough to clinch victory over relegation battling Burnley at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Down in the relegation zone, Pascal Struijk struck an injury-time equaliser to lift Leeds out of the bottom three at Burnley’s expense, as Jesse Marsch’s Whites snatched a late 1-1 draw at home to Brighton who had led through Danny Welbeck’s first-half strike.
Watford remain second-bottom despite having initially led through Joao Pedro’s sixth-minute opener, only to fall to an eventual 5-1 home defeat against Leicester as Jamie Vardy and Harvey Barnes both netted twice after James Maddison had equalised for the Foxes.
Norwich remain rock-bottom after Teemu Pukki’s opener was cancelled out by Rayan Ait-Nouri in a 1-1 draw away at Wolves.
Elsewhere, Ben White’s own goal and Bruno Guimaraes’ late strike saw Newcastle defeat Arsenal 2-0 at St James’ Park in the final Monday Night Football clash of the season, which dented the Champions League qualification hopes of Mikel Arteta’s Gunners.
Quick-fire second-half goals from Yoane Wissa and Rico Henry saw Brentford come from behind to clinch a dramatic 3-2 victory away at nine-men Everton, in which the Toffees saw Jarrad Branthwaite and Salomon Rondon red-carded in separate incidents.
Jeffrey Schlupp cancelled out Ollie Watkins’ scrappy opener as Crystal Palace held Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw away at Selhurst Park.
Midweek
Second-half goals from Michael Keane, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin saw Everton fight back to defeat Crystal Palace 3-2 and secure Premier League survival, having found themselves two goals down at half-time after Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew had put the Eagles ahead.
Burnley put survival into their own hands heading into the final day of the season following a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, where they took the lead through Ashley Barnes before Emiliano Buendia equalised for Villa although the Clarets finished with 10 men after Matt Lowton was red carded.
Finally, Marcos Alonso cancelled out James Maddison’s opener as Chelsea fought back to draw 1-1 at home to Leicester.
Leave a Reply