West Ham’s 3-0 win over Leeds doesn’t matter as Tottenham beat Everton 1-0 and Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were relegated from the Premier League and will play in the Championship on the final day.
Nuno Espirito Santo was forced off against West Ham (Image: Rob Newell/Getty Images)
West Ham lost against Tottenham in the final match of the season, and were relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. The Hammers had been struggling for much of the season and despite a 3-0 win over Leeds, their fate was sealed.
Chasing a two-goal lead, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side needed to beat Leeds and Spurs needed to lose to Everton, but that didn’t look like it would happen. A sharp rebound from Joao Parinha’s corner gave Spurs a 1-0 lead at the end of the second half, but West Ham were booed by their own fans at the London Stadium at half-time with the score 0-0.
Tati Castellanos headed in Jarrod Bowen’s corner corner to take the lead midway through the second half. However, Everton were unable to show their strength, failing to get a shot on target after 65 minutes, with Bowen’s low finish making it 2-0 and Callum Wilson’s drive in the 94th minute doing little.
The Hammers went into the final day in poor form having played three successive games against Brentford, Arsenal and Newcastle, but their reputation with supporters was poor and statistician Opta gave them just a 15 per cent chance of making it through. With the exception of Antonin Kinski’s diving save to deny Everton winger Tyrik George in second-half stoppage time, logic kept the drama at bay and there was no magic in the air on a sweltering summer day in London.
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Castellanos missed a shot on a clean through goal early in the second half, but fired another opener wide minutes later. But the summer’s £26m signing was given a nod in the corner, with star man Bowen showing his quality once again with a quality solo goal, and Wilson’s shot into the bottom corner in stoppage time received little celebration.
However, the news of Everton’s return was not getting through at all, and the atmosphere inside the London Stadium was telling the truth. West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League, the third time after the 2002-03 and 2010-11 seasons, was confirmed when the final whistle was blown a few miles to the north-west, after a farcical delay in the Tottenham match due to the referee’s communications equipment.
The Hammers made a £104.2m deficit last financial year and relegation would inevitably mean a sale of players, with their most valuable assets leaving in captain Bowen, their top scorer for five consecutive seasons, and midfielder Matheus Fernandes, who joined from Southampton last summer for just £42m.
Joao Parinha opened the scoring for Spurs (Image: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
There will also be an impact on London’s taxpayers, with an extra £2.5m diverted from public services to cover increased costs of running the London Stadium, where the Hammers have the most favorable lease.
Spurs had eight points from six games under De Zerbi by the final day, but had to overcome a dismal home record. But Everton arrived in north London without a win in six games, with David Moyes having no intention of helping his old team hold on with a screaming flat performance on the final day of the season.
Jarrod Bowen scored but could not prevent relegation (Image: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
In the end, the decision to make De Zerbi their third manager of the season, following Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, was vindicated and brought a sweet end to a miserable season. Spurs have now secured back-to-back 17th-place finishes and will need a major rebuild over the summer to avoid the same thing.
West Ham’s switch from Graham Potter to Nuno in September hasn’t worked. Now they are gearing up for a revolution before starting life in the Championship next season.
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