A tense afternoon in north and east London ended with Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Everton, but West Ham United were relegated to the Championship for the first time since 2012.
The teams entered the final day with a two-point lead, with Spurs having a far superior goal difference, so realistically, only Spurs would lose and West Ham would beat Leeds to change the standings. However, West Ham’s 3-0 win was not enough to avoid relegation to the second division for the first time since 2011.
They missed an early chance against Spurs in north London and Joao Parinha delighted the home crowd with an opener, but the half-time whistle left West Ham tied 0-0.
There was then a five-minute delay at Spurs in the second half while the referee’s assistant repaired equipment, and the West Ham game ended considerably earlier than the Tottenham game. News that Tati Castellanos had put West Ham ahead gave Spurs fans hope, giving hope to the crowd at the London Stadium. West Ham’s second and third goals ensured victory, so it was Spurs’ side to avoid victory.
However, they managed to hold on, avoiding defeat and securing their place in the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’s Jay Harris and Elias Burke and London Stadium’s Roshane Thomas recount a tense afternoon.
What does relegation mean for West Ham? Who is responsible?
This will have a huge impact on Nuno’s future. The head coach, who signed a three-year deal to replace Graham Potter in late September, remained mum on Friday’s press conference on whether he would lead the club in the Championship.
He’s not the only one who could face a high-profile departure. Captain Jarrod Bowen, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Matheus Fernandes, El Hadji Malik Diouf, Crisencio Somerville and Tati Castellanos could all leave as the club needs to sell players to raise funds for the summer transfer window.
During the 3-0 win against Leeds, home fans protested against majority shareholder David Sullivan. Throughout the season, supporters have expressed their disdain for the board’s treatment of the club.
A common concern among fans is what their future holds after relegation. West Ham won promotion in their first attempt after being relegated in the 2010-11 season. However, after being relegated in 2003, it took two years for them to return to the Premier League. It may be tough to get back to the top.
Roshane Thomas
Nuno watching Sunday’s match (Ben Peters/MB Media/Getty Images)
Where do Spurs go from here? What lessons need to be learned?
Tottenham will be playing in the Premier League next season, but many Spurs fans did not expect that to happen until Roberto De Zerbi was appointed manager on March 31st.
Relegation would have changed Tottenham’s trajectory in the short term, and it is impossible to predict how it would have affected their fortunes in the long term. They would have had more financial power than the second division had ever seen, but immediate promotion was by no means guaranteed and they certainly lost some key first-team players in the transfer market.
But thankfully, they can now plan for a more exciting future. According to Deloitte, Tottenham are the ninth richest club in the world and remain a highly attractive club for many top players across Europe. And Tottenham’s hierarchy – technical director Johan Lange, CEO Vinay Venkatesham and Lewis family representatives Vivian Lewis and Nick Boucher (all present on Sunday afternoon) – will need to prove their financial strength this summer. That’s because Tottenham have to add a few extra players to their first-team squad to prevent a season like this from happening again.
But if there’s one person Tottenham fans would be happy to have guiding their destiny on the pitch, it’s De Zerbi. The Italian’s influence has been immense in terms of completely changing the club’s mentality and tactical direction.
Elias Burke
De Zerbi gives Spurs a boost (Ben STANSALL / AFP via Getty Images)
What was the atmosphere like at both stadiums?
The day began with Tottenham fans welcoming the players’ team bus to the ground, and the mood inside the stadium remained positive and supportive even as opportunities were long overdue. When Parinha’s goal was confirmed, the atmosphere erupted.
Parinha has been criticized at times this season and it is unclear whether Spurs will turn his loan into a permanent deal. However, he has scored some important goals this season, including the winning goal in a 1-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers last month. Portugal’s goal just before half-time greatly eased the tension on the ground.
But when West Ham’s Castellanos scored in the second half, TV cameras caught Spurs fans anxiously scrolling through their phones. As the crowd began to get nervous about a possible Everton comeback, there were some groans as Spurs made a few passes at the back.
West Ham fans during the match (Henry NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
At West Ham, there were mixed emotions on the faces of supporters when news broke that Tottenham had scored in Palinha’s favor. Some people on the TV monitors in the press box shook their heads in frustration, and some young supporters appeared on the verge of tears.
West Ham’s first-half performance against Leeds lacked fight and urgency. At half-time, the London Stadium crowd booed the players, which has become standard this season. There were also protests against the owner, Mr. Sullivan. Castellanos’ goal gave hope, as did Bowen’s, but it proved to be too little to save West Ham as Callum Wilson grabbed the third goal.
Jay Harris and Roshane Thomas
what did they say?
Jarrod Bowen was asked about the relegation and said: BBC today’s match“It’s just an injury. I’ve been here six-and-a-half years. There were a lot of good moments, but that outweighs everything. For this club to be relegated… it hurts. We shouldn’t be in the position we’re in, but we found ourselves in that position and we didn’t do enough to get back up. The injury is the only thing.”
“There were a lot of games where we could have had a different result. You can look at them and say, ‘This, this, this, this’, but in the end we didn’t get the points and there’s so much quality in this league that we didn’t give ourselves enough chances. You can individualize every game. You can’t look back on every game, but in some games we didn’t show a consistent enough level.”
Regarding his future, he said: “It would be rude to anyone to start talking about it. I want this club to remain in the Premier League. It’s a club that means a lot to me and has given me a lot, so my vision is to get this club back into the Premier League.”
Spurs head coach Roberto de Zerbi told Sky Sports: “We did a good job. We’re lucky because we have a lot of big players and big men. You saw in today’s game, they played a great game with the ball, under a lot of pressure. They didn’t just fight, they played with the ball.”
“They probably played the best game of my time. If they played the best game of my time, you can imagine how big the personalities of my players are.”
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