Liverpool qualify for Champions League at the expense of Chelsea

Newcastle hosted Chelsea at St James’ Park with the away team looking for a win in hope of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League. Liverpool sat in 4th place with a 2-point advantage over Chelsea in 5th. A result at St James’ Park would not be enough so they hoped that Liverpool would lose against Brighton. What a complex situation that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic is not comfortable with. The match kicked off and there was not much a difference between the two teams until Thibaut Courtois saved a rocket of a shot from Jonjo Shelvey who tried his luck 30 yards out. On the 22nd minute, Dwight Gayle scored the opener of the match from a rebound after Murphy’s effort was punched into his path by the Chelsea goalkeeper. That was the only goal of the first half in a must-win match for Chelsea who had their UEFA Champions League qualification on the line. The London side came close to scoring in the 52nd minute when Olivier Giroud connected to Ross Barkley’s cross before flicking it towards goal. The ball looked destined for goal and would have been a contender for one of the best goals of the EPL this season but Dubvraka was having none of that as he produced a fingertip save to deny the French striker. Ayoze Perez diverted in Shelvey’s shot on the 58th minute to make it 2-0 to Newcastle. The Spanish striker scored the third and final goal of the match from a pass by Florian Lejeune. This victory means that Chelsea will join Arsenal in the UEFA Europa League tournament next season.

In other news, Mo Salah broke the record of goals scored in 38-matches league. He converted his 32nd English Premier League goal in Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Brighton which means that he has scored more than EPL Legends like Shearer, Ronaldo, Van Persie, Van Nistelrooy etc. The African player has had an outstanding season having led his team to the UEFA Champions League final which will be played against Real Madrid on the 26th of May. His goal also managed to seal Liverpool’s participation in the UEFA Champions League for next season. The player walks home with the English Premier League Golden Boot. What an awesome season he has had.

Newcastle is now safe from the drop

Newcastle United have secured their place in the English Premier League for the 2018/19 season. This came after they came back from 1 goal down to defeat a rejuvenated Arsenal side 2-1 at home. This victory marks the first time the club has won a league match against Arsenal since 2005. Arsenal took the lead from Lacazette’s goal who was thankful to the new signing Aubameyang for setting him through on goal. Many anticipated that Aubameyang was going to be Lacazette’s replacement but the two have proved that they can play together which is giving a selection headache to Wenger at times. Maybe the pair has benefited from Mkhitaryan’s injury as they have shared the pitch more since the Armenian’s setback. Arsenal had a couple of other chances but could not bury them away and were left to rue those chances later on in the match. Ayoze Perez was the first to score for Benitez’s side as he finished intelligently from the near post after darting past Mustafi. The German defender has been a suspect since his acquisition and he really has to do a lot to win the Arsenal fans over. Matt Richie the winner at the 68th minute which secured their 4th straight win.

Newcastle have reached the 40-point mark which means that they are safe from the drop. This defeat for Arsenal means that the club have suffered their fifth successive league match away from home for the first time since 1984. It only proves that the club is unreliable because they had seen a turn in results after their bad patches in the earlier parts of the season. So much for a club that claims to be a big club in England.