By Niall Clarke
- Five lessons learned from Premier League match-week 37 Full results
It is always a sad day when the season ends, but there was plenty of stories and entertainment as the Premier League says goodbye to another campaign. Here is a breakdown of the major stories from the final day.
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Wenger Bows Out On A Win
Sunday saw Arsene Wenger’s swansong at Arsenal as he bid farewell to the club with a 1-0 win away to Huddersfield.
It was almost a day of celebration for both teams. There was little riding on this match with Huddersfield’s Premier League safety secured and Arsenal guaranteed European football next season, so both sets of supporters played their role in a carnival atmosphere at the John Smiths Stadium.
Wenger emerged at kick off to a thunderous ovation from both sets of supporters and went over to applaud the travelling fans before taking a bow. There were banners around the stadium in the air, and an applause in the 22nd minute to celebrate his 22 years at the club.
As for the match, Arsenal secured their first away win of 2018 thanks to Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s goal. Huddersfield made a good account of themselves and almost levelled when Aaron Mooy hit the bar, but the Gunners hung on to send Wenger away with a win.
The Frenchman is not only a legend of the club, he is a legend of English football. Over his 22 years at the club he has won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, including two Doubles and a Champions League final in 2006, and is the only manager to lead a team of Invincibles in the Premier League.
Manchester City Reach 100
They left it late but Manchester City have become the first club in Premier League history to reach 100 points in a single campaign.
The Citizens were largely frustrated by the hosts at St Mary’s, but Gabriel Jesus struck in stoppage time to seal City’s century of points and another top flight record of 32 victories this campaign. The Brazilian latched onto Kevin De Bruyne’s pass before slotting home with virtually the last kick of the game.
100 points caps off a great season for Pep Guardiola’s side who have been runaway winners this campaign. Their dominance has seen them break numerous Premier League records and the 100 points is just the icing on the cake.
It will be interesting to see if they can dominate again next season or if the other title rivals step up their game to challenge the Champions. A lot of the contenders have been found wanting this year in terms of competing with City, so it we will see how they respond.
Salah Breaks Record For Golden Boot
Mohamed Salah has had a quiet end to the season overall with his goals drying up for a few games whilst being one away from the record, but of course the Egyptian magician came alive for the final game of the season.
Harry Kane still had an outside chance of overtaking Salah for the Golden Boot, but the Liverpool winger popped up to finish Dominic Solanke’s low cross to net his 32nd goal of the season. It is a new 38 game record in the Premier League, breaking Alan Shearer’s original record which was later matched by Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez. Salah has put himself amongst elite names in Premier League history, and that was not the end of it.
The Egyptian must have a cabinet full of individual trophies earned this season. He was presented not only with the Golden Boot after the match, Salah also received the Club Player of the year, the PFA Player of the year, and the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year awards. What a debut season.
Liverpool Claim Top Four Spot
Salah’s Golden Boot winning strike was one of four Liverpool hit against Brighton to secure a top four place and confirm their participation in next season’s Champions League.
Salah got the first to give the Reds the lead after 26 minutes before Dejan Lovren headed in a second five minutes before the break. Solanke smashed in his first goal for the club off the bar to put the game beyond any doubt before Andy Robertson put the icing on the cake with a fourth. It was a dominant performance by Jurgen Klopp’s side and a good build up ahead of their biggest game of the season against Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Chelsea were in contention to finish in the top four, but the Blues needed to win at Newcastle and hope Liverpool slip up against Brighton, neither happened. The Magpies put on a great display in a 3-0 rout of the former Champions to confirm their place in the top 10. Dwight Gayle’s close range header gave the hosts the lead before two second half goals from Ayoze Perez capped a fantastic afternoon for Rafael Benitez and his side. Chelsea must now settle for a Europa League place and have a chance to rescue something from a miserable season when they face Manchester United in the FA Cup final next weekend.
There Was Plenty Of Entertainment To End The Season
With many teams not fighting for anything significant on the final day of the season, we were treated to some entertaining games on Sunday, the best of which came at Wembley in a crazy nine goal affair between Spurs and Leicester. The Foxes held a 3-1 lead before being overturned by Tottenham who went on to lead 4-3. Leicester would equalise, however it was Tottenham who had the last laugh when Harry Kane netted his second of the game to secure a 5-4 win.
Manchester United had second place sealed heading into the weekend, but that did not stop them defeating Watford 1-0 thanks to a Marcus Rashford goal. Another exciting winger Wilfried Zaha also shined as Crystal Palace ended their season with a 2-0 win at home to West Brom.
Burnley’s magnificent campaign ended with a 2-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth. Stoke City won by the same score line away at Swansea in the battle of already relegated clubs (pretty much). Finally, David Moyes led his West ham team to a 3-1 win against his former club Everton to seal a 13th place finish
Neil Wins The Predictions Cup
| Niall (249) |
Actual Score | Neil (259) |
| Burnley 2-0 Bournemouth | Burnley 1-2 Bournemouth | Burnley 2-1 Bournemouth |
| Crystal Palace 2-1 West Brom (1) | Crystal Palace 2-0 West Brom | Crystal Palace 3-1 West Brom (1) |
| Huddersfield 1-1 Arsenal | Huddersfield 0-1 Aesenal | Huddersfield 1-2 Arsenal (1) |
| Liverpool 3-1 Brighton (1) | Liverpool 4-0 Brighton | Liverpool 3-0 Brighton (1) |
| Man United 3-1 Watford (1) | Man United 1-0 Watford | Man United 2-0 Watford (1) |
| Newcastle 0-1 Chelsea | Newcastle 3-0 Chelsea | Newcastle 1-2 Chelsea |
| Southampton 0-2 Man City (1) | Southampton 0-1 Man City | Southampton 1-3 Man City (1) |
| Swansea 3-2 Stoke | Swansea 1-2 Stoke | Swansea 1-1 Stoke |
| Tottenham 2-0 Leicester (1) | Tottenham 5-4 Leicester | Tottenham 3-1 Leicester (1) |
| West Ham 1-1 Everton | West Ham 3-1 Everton | West Ham 2-1 Everton (1) |
It was a long and hard fought 38 match-weeks, but in the end Neil Leverett is the Britwatch Premier League predictions champion.
After a poor start, Neil took control and led Niall for most of the campaign. But Niall’s predictions started to get better as he overturned the lead as we reached the last leg of the season. Neil however took charge once again, finishing 10 points clear of his opponent.
The Premier League season has now concluded
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