A tense afternoon in north and east London ended with Tottenham Hotspur staying up with a win against Everton while West Ham United were relegated to the Championship for the first time since 2012.
The teams went into the final day with Spurs two points clear with a far superior goal difference, so realistically, only a Spurs loss and West Ham win over Leeds would change the positions. But West Ham’s 3-0 win was not enough to avoid a first relegation to the second tier since 2011.
In the Spurs game in north London, early chances were missed before Joao Palhinha put them ahead to the delight of the home crowd, while West Ham in the east were whistled off at half-time, drawing 0-0.
There was then a five-minute delay to the second half at Spurs while the referee’s assistant had some equipment fixed, which meant the West Ham game finished well before Tottenham’s. News had filtered through to Spurs fans that Taty Castellanos had put West Ham ahead and the London Stadium crowd were given hope. A second and third West Ham goal meant victory was assured, so it was on Spurs to avoid victory.
But they managed to hold out and avoid defeat to secure their Premier League status.
Jay Harris and Elias Burke at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Roshane Thomas at the London Stadium talk us through a tense afternoon.
What does relegation mean for West Ham? Who is to blame?
There will be huge implications on Nuno’s future. The head coach, who signed a three-year contract when he replaced Graham Potter in late September, was tight-lipped about whether he would lead the club in the Championship during Friday’s press conference.
He would not be the only potential high-profile departure. Club captain Jarrod Bowen, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Mateus Fernandes, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Crysencio Summerville and Taty Castellanos could all leave as the club desperately needs to sell players in order to raise funds for the summer transfer window.
During the 3-0 victory against Leeds, the home fans protested towards majority shareholder David Sullivan. Throughout the season, supporters have expressed their disdain towards the board’s handling of the club.
A common concern among the fanbase is what the future holds following relegation. West Ham sealed promotion at the first time of asking after relegation in the 2010-11. But after demotion in 2003, it took them two years to return to the Premier League. It could once more be an agonising return to the top flight.
Roshane Thomas
Nuno looks on during the game on Sunday (Ben Peters/MB Media/Getty Images)
Where do Spurs go from here? What lessons need to be learned?
Tottenham will be playing Premier League football next season, something many Spurs fans did not think would be the case before Roberto De Zerbi took over on March 31.
Relegation would have changed Tottenham’s trajectory in the short term, and it’s impossible to predict how it might have affected their fortunes in the long term. Though they would have had a financial might that the second tier has never seen before, immediate promotion is never promised, and they would surely have lost several important first-team players in the transfer window.
Thankfully, however, they can now plan for a more exciting future. Tottenham are the ninth-richest club in the world, according to Deloitte, and remains an incredibly attractive destination for many top players around Europe. And Tottenham’s hierarchy, that’s technical director Johan Lange, CEO Vinai Venkatesham and Lewis family representatives Vivienne Lewis and Nick Beucher (who were all in attendance on Sunday afternoon) need to demonstrate their financial might this summer, as Tottenham must make several additions to the first-team squad to ensure a season like this does not happen again.
But if there’s one person who Tottenham fans are delighted to have steering their fortunes on the pitch, it’s De Zerbi. In entirely shifting the club’s mentality and tactical direction, the Italian’s impact has been colossal.
Elias Burke
De Zerbi has kept Spurs up (Ben STANSALL / AFP via Getty Images)
What was the atmosphere like in both stadiums?
The day started with Tottenham fans welcoming their players’ team bus to the ground and inside the stadium, the mood remained positive and supportive even when chances went begging. And when Palhinha’s goal was confirmed, the place erupted.
Palhinha has been criticised at times this season and it is unclear if Spurs will convert his loan into a permanent deal. However, he has scored some crucial goals this season, including the winner in last month’s 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Portugal international’s goal just before half-time relieved a lot of tension inside the ground.
In the second half, though, when Castellanos scored for West Ham, the television cameras picked up Spurs fans anxiously scrolling their phones. There were a few groans when Spurs made a couple of passes backwards as the crowd started to get nervous about a potential Everton comeback.
A West Ham fan during the game (Henry NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images)
Over at West Ham, there was a mixture of emotions on the faces of supporters when news filtered through that Tottenham had scored, courtesy of Palhinha. Some pictured on the TV monitors in the press box shook their heads in frustration, while a young supporter was close to tears.
West Ham’s first-half performance against Leeds lacked fight and urgency. At half-time, the London Stadium faithful booed the players off, which has been a regular theme this season. There were also protests against owner Sullivan. Castellanos’s goal did bring some hope, as did Bowen’s, but it proved too little to save West Ham as Callum Wilson grabbed a third.
Jay Harris and Roshane Thomas
What did they say?
Jarrod Bowen, when asked about relegation, told BBC Match of the Day: “Just hurt. I’ve been here six and a half years now. Had a lot of good moments and this outweighs all of it. Getting this club relegated… it hurts. We shouldn’t be in the position we’re in but we’ve found ourselves in it and we’ve not done enough to stay up. Hurt is the only thing.”
“We’ve had so many games when we could have got different results. You can look at it and say ‘these, these, these, these’ but, ultimately, we didn’t pick the points up and in this league, the quality is so high and we didn’t give ourselves enough of a chance. You can individualise every single game. You can’t look back at every game but in some games we didn’t show the levels consistently enough.”
On his future, he said: “It’s disrespectful to everyone to start talking about that. I want this club to be in the Premier League. It’s a club that means so much to me and has given me so much so my vision is to get this club back in the Premier League.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Spurs head coach Roberto De Zerbi said: “We worked well. I am lucky because I have a lot of big players and big guys. You can see the game today and you can understand that with big pressure, they played a fantastic game with the ball. Not just to fight but with the ball.
“They played maybe my best game in my time. If they play the best game in my time, you can imagine how big the personalities of my players are.”
