16th May

Wow, the last day of the season really lived up to expectations.

Final Day Drama

It wasn't quite the Aguero moment of four years ago, but with the title and relegation already decided, this weekend was as dramatic as it was possible for it to be. There are so many things to talk about but there really is only one place to start, as Manchester United's game against Bournemouth was called off after a bomb scare.

In a lot of ways, the final day can some up people's seasons, and so was the case at Old Trafford, as a blunder of catastrophic proportions by a security company off the pitch cost United dearly, forcing them to evacuate parts of the 75,000 seater stadium whilst the bomb squad were called in. It's easy, in hindsight, to joke, knowing that nobody was ever in any danger, but it's frankly an unacceptable mistake to make and we can just be thankful that nobody was hurt. Nevertheless, it is very funny knowing the full truth and the irony will not be lost on any sniggering football fan, who were quick to point out that the suspicious package might be "a trophy" "Louis Van Gaal's new contract" or "a naked David Moyes".

Meanwhile, across the country, the other team from Manchester were getting on with business. Much like United, whose performance was literally non-existent, City's performance also summed up their season quite well, as they were out of the blocks early, with a goal from young Iheanacho, who showed sharp reactions to tap in after Aguero's shot was saved, only to grind to a halt, and in the end, although a draw was enough to secure them top four for next season (yes unless United score nineteen goals don't get pedantic), they'll be disappointed not to have done better. It's fitting that this game, the most important game of the day by a mile, was overshadowed by everything around it, given that that's how this season has been for a long time: sensationalism, with the football often lost in the middle.

Swansea, however, played well for large spells of the game and although there was a huge element of luck in Andre Ayew's free kick which took a massive deflection on its way through, there was no luck in the fact that they walked away with a deserved draw. The result means that Swansea finish 12th, a far from dreadful result for a team that have underperformed for large swathes of the season.

With the scrap for Champions League effectively sorted, the battle for Europa League is very much alive, as West Ham managed to throw away a lead away at Stoke, with second half goals from Imbula and Diouf consigning West Ham to seventh. The Hammers were totally on top in the first half, with one of their stars of this season, Michail Antonio putting them 1-0 up with a nice finish midway through the first half. But soon after the break, a lovely low finish from Imbula leveled the scoring and got Stoke back into a match that had been one-way traffic up until that point. With the game close, and West Ham needing a win to overthrow Southampton into fifth, they went for it, with Shay Given forced into a big double save and Glenn Whelan inches away from not being able to prevent Kouyate scoring, as almost all of the ball was over the line before he hooked it out.

But it was Stoke who had the last laugh, to leapfrog Chelsea into ninth place in the table, with a late header from Mame Biram Diouf to put West Ham's Europa League position under real threat. Seventh would only be enough to secure Europa League qualification for next season if Man United beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final, which is more than likely at this stage, as Palace failed monumentally to do West Ham one favour already on the final day of the season, losing 4-1 to Southampton, admittedly with nothing riding on it for Palace.

But with the pressure on, Southampton are arguably the only side who delivered, albeit helped by a shocking Palace side who have to be amongst the favourites for relegation next season under Pardew if they don't improve in the summer, so bad has their tailspin been. Keeper Speroni's poor clearance got the Saints underway, as Mane chipped in to make it 1-0 shortly before half time, and in the second half, they ran riot, with a controversial penalty from Bertrand either side of goals from Pelle and Davis as Southampton scored with ease; Jason Puncheon's fine strike to get it back to 2-1 only a consolation in the end. Nevertheless, Palace will feel hard done by, as the penalty to make it 3-1 appeared to be outside the area, and at 2-1 with fifteen minutes left, anything could have happened. But as it is, Palace need to find some motivation and skill from somewhere, or United will bury them next weekend.

And Liverpool will need to win on Wednesday night to secure any European football next season, as the Europa League is no longer an option for us, after a tepid 1-1 draw with West Brom, which is completely unsurprising given the team sent out, with Brannagan making a full debut in the middle of the park, more appearances for Stewart, Smith, Ojo and Ibe and the likes of Lucas, Skrtel, Benteke and Bogdan playing what is most likely their final games for the club. I'd put Joe Allen in that category, but I expect him to come off the bench in midweek. Regardless, nobody in that LFC starting eleven will be at the club next season apart from a handful of the youngsters and of them, I'd say only Ojo and Flano are anywhere near the first team, although an absolutely sublime goal from Jordon Ibe will have really helped his chances no end. Either way, it was obvious that the likes of Stewart and Smith are nowhere near the expected standard for Liverpool yet, and I've felt that way about both of them for several weeks (Smith in particular looks defensively all over the place). Ojo and Ibe have bags of talent but both are individuals, not team players. Benteke, Skrtel, Lucas and Bogdan all have to leave in the summer. Skrtel and Lucas have been outstanding servants for the club and I love them both but their time has come; Benteke was simply put the wrong player for the club and Bogdan is not even as good as the injured Danny Ward, making him probably our fourth choice keeper next season.

The main positive for LFC from this game, which was essentially a write-off otherwise, is the returns from injury for the lovable Danny Ings, who has missed Klopp's entire reign through an unfortunate injury, and captain Hendo, putting both of them in midweek contention. Ings will surely have to settle for a place on the bench, as he's not going to supplant Daniel Sturridge, but there's a chance that Hendo will making the starting eleven in midweek, if Klopp feels he's fit enough to throw him in, like he did with Emre Can.

Elsewhere, in the Premier League's largely meaningless games, Everton turned up to the party, with a comfortable 3-0 win over already relegated Norwich, a sublime early goal from James McCarthy, a Leighton Baines penalty and a tap in for Kevin Mirallas giving them a very good day at the office, against a Norwich side who showed why they were nowhere near staying in the Premier League in the end.

And speaking of already relegated sides, Aston Villa showed their true colours by, surprise, surprise, getting hammered by Arsenal. as Olivier Giroud scored a hat-trick and Mikel Arteta was cruelly denied a goal on his final appearance for the club. Giroud opened the scoring early on, but Villa looked for long periods like they might be able to hold out for a reasonable defeat, before two goals in two minutes late on secured Giroud's treble, and in stoppage time Bunn turned Arteta's shot into his own net.

This is a momentum result for Arsenal, as it secured their only real achievement for this season, and the only thing they really wanted, finishing ahead of Tottenham! Sarcasm aside, second is Arsenal's best finish in over a decade, albeit with a points tally lower than over half of their finishes in that decade. It's not something to get too excited about, as the difference between Leicester and everyone behind them was massive and Arsenal were nowhere the title, but there's no denying that they will feel very good about beating their local rivals and so they should.

Because Spurs imploded in hilarious style, overshadowing just about everything else that happened on the final day, losing 5-1 to already relegated, ten man Newcastle. No. Really. Things were already looking pretty bad for Spurs after a dismal first half in which Wjinaldum and Mitrovic put Newcastle, astonishingly, 2-0 up at half time, despite having nothing to play for. But when Erik Lamela thundered past Darlow to pull one back, and shortly after, Mirovic stamped on Walker to get himself sent off, the script looked to have been written. But Newcastle ripped up and threw out the script, as Wjinaldum scored from the spot to secure the points, before two late goals in two minutes from Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat turned Spurs into a laughing stock, as Newcastle, despite having one less man, tore strips off the Premier League's best defence. There simply are no excuses for Spurs' collapse, picking up only two points in their last four games to not only lose Leicester's trail, but somehow conspire to slip behind Arsenal. It was a choke of epic proportions, despite only losing one or two key players in Alli and Dembele. It just goes to show what I've already said about this Spurs side, if you remove even one of their cogs, the rest all fall apart. And fall apart they did; this was a horror show.

Meanwhile, Newcastle's rivals Sunderland secured an entertaining 2-2 draw away at Watford, with goals from Rodwell, Lens, Prodl and Deeney meaning that Watford will finish 13th in the Premier League table (yes unless Bournemouth beat United 11-0 but that's almost as unlikely as United beating them 19-0 so we can but dream, don't be pedantic). A decent season for them in the end, but as I mentioned yesterday, the entire bottom half of the table is very close and very few of the teams in it would be happy with their finish. I would say Watford are one of them, alongside Bournemouth and Sunderland, as for the two newly promoted sides in particular, survival will have been their only goal this season.

And on that note, it seems fitting to end this season talking about the two teams who have provided the two biggest shocks of the season. And for a team whose only aim at the start of the season was Premier League football in 2016/17, to not only do that, but to add Champions League football on top of that, and, just for good measure, to only go and win the whole damn thing, Leicester City have surpassed beyond anything anyone could have expected. whilst Chelsea's infamous start to the season under Mourinho means that they're the worst title defenders of the Premier League era.

The game itself between these two means almost nothing, a Fabregas penalty and a Drinkwater thunderbolt ensuring it also ended in a draw, but Leicester City deserve to be highlighted on the final day. They may not have had the drama of a bomb scare, or butchering Spurs 5-1, but ultimately, on the last day of the Premier League, it was Leicester City who got to do the only thing that mattered. They got to be top of the table.

The Hard and Fast Section

• Who else laughed very hard at Nico and Lewis?
• Congrats to young Verstappen, who took advantage.
• Delph? Townsend? Rashford? Oh my days. 
• In all seriousness, that squad is pretty decent.