The 2024-25 Premier League season is over! Though Liverpool were crowned champions almost a month ago and the respective relegations of Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City looked on the cards for even longer, there was still some business to be settled Sunday.
With all 20 teams playing their final match of the campaign at the same time, there was still qualification for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League at stake.
Manchester City‘s 2-0 win at Fulham secured them third place and booked their place back in Europe’s top competition for next season by finishing third, behind champions Liverpool (who drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace at Anfield) and Arsenal (who won 2-1 at Southampton).
Newcastle can thank Aston Villa for allowing them to finish fifth, as a 2-0 loss at Manchester United condemned them to sixth place and with it a place in the Europa League. But spare a thought for Forest, who at one point were a surprise name in the title mix, but end the season in seventh place — a highly respectable finish for a club that battled relegation last season, but not what it was dreaming of in January.
Man United’s historically bad Premier League campaign was not quite as historically bad as it might have been, as their win against 10-man Villa moved them up to 15th, while Tottenham Hotspur, the team that beat them in Wednesday’s Europa League final, finished 17th after losing 4-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Chelsea secure UCL football at Forest’s expense
NOTTINGHAM, England — Chelsea were keen to stress privately that Enzo Maresca’s position was secure regardless of what happened on the final day, but delivering Champions League football enhances his authority ahead of a busy summer.
Levi Colwill‘s 51st-minute tap-in was enough to give the Blues a precious 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest, sealing fourth place and a return to Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 2022-23. It was the product of a scrappy game in which many of Chelsea’s shortcomings — most obviously a disjointed attack — were visible, but nevertheless, Maresca has ultimately brought a sense of progress to a project that has often attracted attention for the wrong reasons ever since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover in May 2022.
For Forest, it was a bittersweet finale. There was a sense of jubilation in these parts before kickoff, exemplified by the “Destination: Europe” banner adorning the Trent End. They will embark on a European campaign for the first time since 1995-96 next term, but having started the daydreaming of Champions League football, they end it knowing the Conference League awaits.
In truth, Forest ran out of steam. Two wins from their final eight league games tells that story, but nothing should detract from a season in which Nuno Espírito Santo and his players defied all preseason expectations to finish in seventh when many observers had them nailed on to be relegated.
Maresca might still have a battle to truly win the hearts and minds of Chelsea supporters, especially given the ongoing criticism of his style of play, but he can now continue that fight from a renewed position of strength. After two decades of success under a variety of managers during Roman Abramovich’s ownership, those traveling Blues fans respect one thing above all else: getting the job done. And Maresca did that here. — James Olley
More disappointment at Old Trafford — this time for Villa
MANCHESTER, England — Another game, another failure to qualify for the Champions League, although on this occasion, it was Manchester United wrecking the hopes of their opponents rather than their own as a 2-0 Old Trafford win against Aston Villa denied Unai Emery’s team a place in next season’s most prestigious club competition.
Four days after blowing their chances of a back-door entry into the Champions League by losing to Tottenham in the Europa League final, United’s final-game rally against Villa ultimately denied their guests a top-five spot, but the final outcome might have been different had Emery’s team not been reduced to 10 players with the 45th-minute red card for goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for a foul on Rasmus Højlund. At the end of such a dismal season, though, United probably needed Villa to lose their keeper in order to be able to find the win that drew a line under what manager Ruben Amorim called a “disastrous season” in his postmatch speech to the crowd.
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For United, it is a long way back to where they want to be, where they believe they should be, but this season really has to be rock bottom. No trophies, no European qualification and a finishing position closer to the bottom three than the top five. That’s an embarrassment for Manchester United, but they have underperformed for more a decade now and, at some point, they have to start heading in the other direction. — Mark Ogden
Even in their worst campaign, City keep place in UCL
LONDON — In the race for the Champions League, Manchester City got the job done at Fulham with minimal fuss.
Pep Guardiola’s side only needed a point at Craven Cottage to be sure of a top-five finish, and a comfortable 2-0 win was more than enough to book a place in Europe’s elite club competition. It’s not what City are used to celebrating on the final day, but there were smiles from Guardiola and his players at full time, nonetheless.
For just the second time in 16 years as a top-flight manager, Guardiola has finished outside the top two. There was a point in the season — particularly during a run of one win in 13 games in all competitions in November and December — when it looked like the wheels might come off completely. If nothing else, City have limited the damage.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United have all missed out on the Champions League in the past 10 years. City, meanwhile, last failed to qualify in 2010-11. Even after their worst campaign in a decade, they’ll remain at Europe’s top table.
