Thursday night ended with a horror scenario for Leeds supporters. After rescheduled matches, their direct rivals for Premier League survival, Everton and Burnley, had good results, which leaves their team in the worst possible position ahead of the crucial last round on Sunday. The Toffies made a sensational comeback and came from two goals behind to win 3-2 over Crystal Palace, which means they are mathematically survived in the Premier League and can travel to London to face Arsenal without any care in the world.36’—Everton 0-2 Crystal Palace85’—Everton 3-2 Crystal PalaceEVERTON WILL SEAL PREMIER LEAGUE SURVIVAL WITH A WIN 💥 pic.twitter.com/mxR78pKKWs— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 19, 2022 Burnley took an extremely valuable point against Aston Villa in Birmingham and booked a ticket for the last day showdown with Leeds. With this point from Villa Park, The Clarets now have destiny in their own hands. If they defeat Newcastle at home, they will stay in the Premier League no matter what happens in the Brentford – Leeds game. In fact, all Burnley needs to do is match Leeds’s result on the last day, and they will survive due to the superior goal difference.Everton attacked in the first half but without any real chance until Richairson had a beautiful free-kick which Butland brilliantly tipped over in the 17th minute. But just 4 minutes later, Goodison Park was silenced. Eze’s great free-kick allowed Mateta a free header from eight meters, and the Palace midfielder made no mistake – 0-1. And then Eagles striker Jordan Ayew took the stage and was the main actor for the next 5 minutes. First, he made a reckless tackle on Gordon, which caused a lot of commotion, but the referee decided it was not a red card, and then he scored the second goal for Palace. It was a poor Everton defending overall, from Coleman’s touch, to Pickford half save, and the end result was Ayew’s goal between two defenders.
Everton soon scored in the second half and gave their fans a glimmer of hope. The hosts launched a free-kick high into the Palace box for Holgate to cleverly head back into Keane’s path, and the defender scored after a lovely volley into the bottom lefthand corner: 1-2, 54th minute. And then the roof came off when Richairson scored an equalizer 15 minutes before the end. But the surreal scenes were to follow soon. When Calvert-Lewin scored from a header three minutes from the end for a total turnaround, the delighted fans made a pitch invasion, the ones we haven’t seen on the Premier League stadiums in a long time. Eventually, the crowd got back to their seats and after seven minutes of injury time celebrated the survival with another pitch invasion.
Burnley certainly had a tougher task tonight, as they were playing against Aston Villa in Birmingham. Quite naturally, the home team was more than dominant and created two excellent chances in the first half (both from McGinn), before the clumsy challenge by Emiliano Buendia was characterized as a penalty. Out of nowhere, Burley were in the lead at the same time when Everton was 2-0 down in Liverpool. But the Argentinian redeemed himself with an equalizer just at the beginning of the second half. Villa continued to dominate but couldn’t eventually turn the game around, giving Burnley some hope ahead of the last day. It could have been much easier for Burnley if only Weghorst reacted better 4 minutes from time, but eventually, it stayed 1-1. In a game which didn’t matter at all when the Premier League table is concerned, Chelsea failed to capitalize on their dominant performance at Stamford Bridge and only drew 1-1 with Marcos Alonso’s equalizer after the Foxes took an unexpected lead in the 6th minute after a stunner from Maddison.
PREMIER LEAGUETuesdaySouthampton – Liverpool 1-2 (1-1)/Redmond 13 – Minamino 27, Matip 67/ThursdayEverton – Crystal Palace 3-2 (0-2)/Keane 54, Richarlison 75, Calvert-Lewin 85 – Mateta 21, Ayew 36/Chelsea – Leicester 1-1 (1-1)/Alonso 34 – Maddison 6/Aston Villa – Burnley 1-1 (0-1)/Buendia 48 – Barnes 45(p)/