Category: Football (Soccer)

Burnley came from behind to make sure the ignominy of finishing bottom of the Premier League went to Wolves as the two relegated sides fought out a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.

This was a battle for pride – plus around £2.6million extra in merit payments – and Rob Edwards’ side took an early lead through Adam Armstrong’s penalty.

Fulham gave Marco Silva a victory in what could be his final match in charge as Tom Cairney’s second-half wonder goal sealed a win over Newcastle at Craven Cottage.

The manager is due to meet with the club hierarchy next week having promised he would make a decision after the season had concluded on whether to extend his five-year stay or to depart.

“Pep Guardiola!”: the two magical words for all of a Manchester City stripe came from the Etihad Stadium announcer ahead of the great man’s entrance in light-tan slacks and white T-shirt, a ‘P’ for Pep emblazoned across the left breast pocket.

The reception was rapturous. Poignant too. From a record 60,332 crowd due to the opening of the extension to the newly named The Pep Guardiola Stand.

This was an occasion for Mikel Arteta to savour. With owner Stan Kroenke watching on from the stands on a rare visit to see his team in the flesh, Arsenal celebrated being crowned champions for the first time since 2004 by recording a comfortable victory over a Crystal Palace side who also have a European final on their minds. Max Dowman became the youngest player ever to start a Premier League game at the age of 16 years and 144 days and played his part, as goals from Gabriel Jesus – on what could be the Brazil striker’s last appearance – and Noni Madueke rounded off a memorable campaign for Arteta and his side.

But as they waited to be presented with the Premier League trophy at a sultry Selhurst Park after Oliver Glasner completed his own lap of honour following his last home match in charge of Palace, attention will switch very quickly to the daunting prospect of facing Paris Saint-Germain in next weekend’s Champions League showpiece. Palace - who scored a late consolation through Jean-Philippe Mateta and saw a late equaliser from Yéremy Pino ruled out for offside - will be concerned to see Adam Wharton limp off ahead of their meeting with Spanish side Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig on Wednesday in the Conference League final in what should be an emotional farewell for Glasner. Palace revealed this week that it had identified more than 35,000 bots attempting to buy tickets in the home sections of the ground and asked fans to report any Arsenal supporters transgressing. Yet other than a handful who sneaked in wearing hi-vis jackets before being ejected by security, everything passed off peacefully in the end.

A day of joy, distress and emotional farewells saw West Ham go down, Pep Guardiola go out, and Arsenal’s Champagne go pop

Pep Guardiola has a chat with Sky:

I’m good. Trying to focus on the game. It’s not easy, with many things happening around it. Not just me, Bernardo and John and some people from the staff. But yeah, try to enjoy, with my family, and an amount of people that I love.

There’s a football game, and we don’t want to make a bad last game. I’d have loved to have the chance today to play against Arsenal, but there are a lot of things around.

Now is the time, I’m pretty sure. Once we announced I thought, maybe I was wrong. The past has been really good with us, but the future will be better without me. You have to have a special energy..

João Palhinha’s goal ensured Tottenham Hotspur stayed up and banished West Ham to the Championship

Roberto De Zerbi has been out on the pitch waving his arms about in an extremely exuberant style, exhorting the fans to make the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a cauldron in terms of atmosphere as well as temperature. It’s 30 degrees out there, with little or no wind. UV level high. Seek shade, wear sunscreen. And stay hydrated!

… and at the risk of turning this MBM into some sort of retro-relegation compendium, here’s Gary Naylor. “I was there in 1994,” he writes of Everton’s 1994 scrape with ignominy, requiring to beat Wimbledon on the last day only to go two down after ten minutes. “It was, and is, my favourite game. You’ve got to embrace it. There’ll be Tottenham or West Ham fans feeling the same come 6pm.”

Our fans’ network reviews the season with one game to play: the highs, the lows and what they need in the summer

In this age of the managerial revolving door, I’m enormously proud that the Premier League champions (man, does that sound sweet!) stand as the antithesis to that. Admittedly, “trusting the process” aged a lot of us massively, but the agony of the past three campaigns evaporated with the final whistle at the Vitality. Sure, it would’ve been great to have enjoyed the sort of free-flowing football that the Cherries produced, but you won’t find a Gooner anywhere who gives a monkey’s how Mikel got us over the line. 19 great clean sheets. In the words of Fergie, attack wins games, but defence wins titles. Season rating: 10/10

Bernard Azulay onlinegooner.com; @GoonerN5

Jonathan Pritchard

Reijnen chase is sign Reds manager will stay as Moyes admits being despondent over a poor end to season

The final day of the season pitches West Ham and Tottenham in a battle for survival with Spurs being safe if they secure a point against Everton

Sunday 4pm Sky Sports Tennis Venue Amex Stadium