Nottingham Forest's New Zealand striker Chris Wood watches his shot go over the bar during the English Premier League football match against Chelsea at The City Ground in Nottingham, 25 May, 2025. Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP
Manchester City and Chelsea both secured their Champions League places with victories on the final day of the Premier League season and Newcastle United joined them despite stumbling to a last-day defeat at home to Everton.
City, whose season has generally been one to forget, only really required a draw at Fulham but cruised to a 2-0 victory which meant they finished in third place.
Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, who began the day in fifth place - the last spot for Champions League qualification - won 1-0 at seventh-placed Nottingham Forest to finish fourth.
Forest's Kiwi striker Chris Wood missed two shots at goal, the second of which was at the death when he stretched his foot to get on a terrific ball into the box from Matz Sels, but chipped it over the bar from close range, prompting agonised groans from the Forest faithful.
Still, the Forest season will be deemed a success. They were tipped for another relegation battle by many before a remarkable turnaround under Nuno Espirito Santo saw them parked among the top five for much of the season, and dreaming of a return to Europe's elite club competition for the first time in more than 40 years.
As it is they will return to European competition next season, for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, in the Conference League.
Newcastle will be breathing a sigh of relief as their 1-0 defeat by Everton could have opened the door for Aston Villa to climb above them.
But Villa went down 2-0 at Manchester United to end in sixth place and take a place in the Europa League.
City ended up with 71 points, Chelsea on 69 and Villa on 66 but with an inferior goal difference to Newcastle on the same points.
Forest, who still had hopes of a top-five finish going into the last day, will go into the UEFA Conference League.
Champions Liverpool ended their campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Crystal Palace in a party atmosphere at Anfield.
Runners-up Arsenal, who ended 10 points behind Liverpool, beat bottom club Southampton 2-1 away.
Brighton and Hove Albion brought Europa Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur down to earth with a bump as they won 4-1 in north London to finish eighth, but that will not be good enough to secure a European berth for the south coast side next season.
Tottenham finished a woeful league season in 17th place, their worst performance since being relegated in 1977.
- Reuters
