Liverpool, Chelsea Claim Last Champions League Spots, Leicester Lose Out

Liverpool secured third place in the Premier League and Champions League football with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield on Sunday.

While all eyes were on Mohamed Salah to see if he would take the season’s Golden Boot, it was Sadio Mane who brought Liverpool over the line with a goal in each half.

It took Mane until 36 minutes to tap the ball in from close range following a Roberto Firmino corner.

The goal marked Mane’s eighth straight goal against Palace and his brace on Sunday took his total goals against the side to 12.

Palace sought an equaliser in the second half but none materialised as Liverpool took advantage with a second Mane goal.

Salah, who went into the day tied on 22 goals with Harry Kane in the goalscoring charts, selflessly passed the ball off to Mane on the edge of the box who fired it home on 74 minutes.

Kane scored in Tottenham Hotspur’s game against Leicester City to take his total to 23 and win the Golden Boot over Salah.

Meanwhile, West Ham and Leicester City will play Europa League football next season after plenty of twists and turns on a dramatic final day of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.

The Hammers needed just a point against a Southampton side with little to play for in front of 10,000 returning fans at the London Stadium to guarantee sixth place and got all three courtesy of a stylish quick fire first-half brace from an unusual source in Pablo Fornals and Declan Rice’s quality late effort.

Europa League qualification and a first top-six finish this century caps off a remarkable season that has seen a brilliant transformation under David Moyes, with West Ham embroiled in a relegation battle only last season.

For Leicester, who clinched their maiden FA Cup triumph at Wembley last weekend, missing out on a Champions League return on the final day for the second successive season is a bitter pill to swallow, particularly when they appeared on for a top-four finish for so much of the afternoon.

The Foxes had been firmly in the driving seat for third just a few short weeks ago, but end the campaign fifth despite two penalties from Jamie Vardy in a dramatic final day 4-2 home loss against Tottenham, who seal seventh position and a place in the inaugural Uefa Europa Conference League ahead of Arsenal thanks to a late brace from substitute Gareth Bale on his likely final Spurs appearance.

Chelsea however squeezed into the top four above Leicester by one point despite going down 2-1 at Aston Villa, with Liverpool third behind champions Manchester City and Manchester United.

Arsenal, meanwhile, end a difficult season eighth and without any European football for the first time in 25 years despite Nicolas Pepe’s double sinking Brighton.

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