Leicester Relegated Despite 2-1 Over West Ham
Leicester City’s nine-year stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were relegated in agonising fashion despite beating West Ham on the final day of the season.
The Foxes’ fate was out of their hands heading into the last round of fixtures, and Everton’s 1-0 victory over Bournemouth meant the 2015-16 winners slipped into the Championship by two points.
While Toffees fans were in ecstasy at Goodison Park, Leicester supporters at the King Power were left to rue a miserable campaign in which they won only nine league matches.
Knowing they needed a win to have any chance of staying up, Leicester went close early on when Kelechi Iheanacho exchanged passes with James Maddison before clipping the crossbar with a vicious, curling effort.
The hosts did break the deadlock through Harvey Barnes’ cool finish from Iheanacho’s pass to lead at half-time, and at that stage they were staying up on goal difference.
Jonny Evans almost headed into his own net in a nerve-jangling second half, but the stadium was silenced when word filtered through about Everton scoring.
Said Benrahma struck a delightful curling effort against the post for the visitors, before Wout Faes headed in Leicester’s second goal.
Pablo Fornals pulled a goal back by stabbing in via the post as the Hammers finished 14th, six points clear of the relegation zone.
Leicester’s game finished before Everton’s, which meant the Foxes players had to wait on the pitch for confirmation to come through that they were relegated.
Some huddled around defender Victor Kristiansen’s phone, but any glimmer of hope was extinguished when the full-time whistle blew at Goodison.
Many of the crowd jeered, but some did afford their players a generous ovation when they applauded the fans before heading down the tunnel and out of the top flight.
Leicester have been the architects of their own downfall, ending a wretched season with just three wins from their final 17 games and keeping just one clean sheet since November.
Dean Smith’s mandate when he was appointed in April was to preserve the status of a side that were shock champions only seven years ago, but nine points from his eight games in charge was simply not enough.
And that means relegation to the Championship just six years after they reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
Barnes’ delightful finish and a 1-0 half-time lead gave the Foxes optimism they may just stay alive.
But after Everton took the lead through Abdoulaye Doucoure’s brilliant strike, Faes’ goal mattered little as Bournemouth could not find a way through.
Leicester supporters did break out into cheers on a number of occasions as news spread of a Cherries ‘equaliser’ – but each time it was a false dawn.
A summer of upheaval follows for the Foxes, with Maddison and Barnes the most sellable assets, and seven players and manager Smith out of contract.
