Red cards, redemption and disallowed goals: Final battle for Champions League places delivers plenty of drama

There were only four games that really counted for anything on the final day of the Premier League season, and those who just wanted drama were not left disappointed.

Liverpool’s trophy lift had looked inevitable for months, with the relegation battle offering no further intrigue after Wolves and Everton both made managerial changes either side of Christmas.

All eyes on the final-day battle for Champions League places, then. Five clubs were still in with a shout of joining Liverpool and Arsenal – and somehow of course Tottenham – at European football’s top table next season. Three would do just that. The other two would have to console themselves with the Europa League and Conference League.

The stakes were equally high for all five clubs, but still managed to feel different for each of them. For Manchester City, missing out would represent a level of failure that would have been completely unimaginable a year ago.

For Newcastle United, being able to upgrade the Europa Conference League place they were already guaranteed after ending their long trophy drought would put an extra gloss on a memorable season.

A much-improved Chelsea had hoped to be unexpected title challengers at Christmas, but then lost their way; slipping out of the top five at the final hurdle would be yet another year of under-achievement for a former powerhouse.

Aston Villa could not be said to have had a bad season regardless what happened. They arguably over-achieved by finishing fourth last season, and reached the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals this term. Still, adding to those near-misses by falling short on the last day would leave a real ‘almost, but not quite’ flavour about their whole season.

And most unexpectedly of them all, Nottingham Forest, still in contention thanks to an unbelievably good first half of the season in spite of gravity catching up with them in the latter half of the campaign.

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We won’t bore you too much with the permutations, because it’s immaterial now it’s all over and done with – but the bottom line was that Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea all knew they were assured of staying in the top five with a victory, while Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa both needed to hope for the best with results elsewhere even if they were to claim wins of their own.

That made Nottingham Forest’s clash with Chelsea by far the most interesting of the final-day encounters, with the two Champions League hopefuls going head to head at the City Ground – and it was every bit as tense as you would imagine.

Forest were by far the better of the two sides through much of the first half, but as the half-hour mark approached, they had still yet to manage a single shot. Chelsea, for their part, had attempted just the one effort on goal –  a speculative Noni Madueke shot from distance that was blocked before it could trouble Matz Sels.

In fairness, that was not down to any tentativeness from either side, but more because both sides were just incredibly defensively solid.

Levi Colwill, in particular, looked like a man playing with unfinished business on his mind. The Chelsea centre-back had been equally superb for Huddersfield in a 1-0 victory at the City Ground during his loan spell in the Championship three years ago, only to score the entirely blameless own goal that sent Forest up to the Premier League at the Terriers’ expense at Wembley in the play-off final later that season.

Colwill was determined to ensure that Forest laugh was not, in fact, the last one, defending cross after cross as the hosts tried in vain to force that elusive opening.

When Pedro Neto turned Cole Palmer’s cross over the bar in the 30th minute, the ‘as it stands’ table made the miss immaterial. Ilkay Gundogan’s goal for Manchester City at Fulham was the only scoring to be found among the five Champions League aspirants.

That was good enough for Chelsea and Newcastle, but not for Forest or Aston Villa, who were somehow contriving to look the weaker side away to Manchester United. Both of them needed something to fall their way. Bad news for both, then, just before half time.

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For Forest, there was at least some encouragement in finally creating serious danger, but Chris Wood almost emulated Neto’s earlier miss, getting to Ola Aina cross just before Robert Sanchez could get there but volleying over the bar.

Villa, meanwhile, were reduced to ten men as Emiliano Martinez hared out of his box to try and get to Matty Cash’s underhit backpass. The keeper failed to get there before Rasmus Hojlund, and bodychecked the Manchester United striker to the floor in a manner that left absolutely zero room for plausible deniability about his intention to deny an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

That left everything still in the balance as second halves kicked off around the country, and all the tension was suddenly released.

Hojlund got the ball in the net against Villa, only for it to be ruled out for offside. Casemiro hit the post. Most significantly, Chelsea scored. A half-cleared ball went back into the Forest box, and Neto reached it before Sels to square for (who else, it had to be) Levi Colwill to tap home.

The situation now: City third, Chelsea fourth, and Newcastle fifth but precarious. If ten-man Villa could somehow find a way to score against the run of play at Old Trafford, or if Eddie Howe’s side went behind,  it could spell disaster for the Geordies.

Villa didn’t do their part as they continued to struggle – but Everton did it for them. In spite of having nothing to play for, David Moyes’ side had frustrated Newcastle and threatened on the counter-attack, and they took the lead at St James’ Park thanks as Carlos Alcaraz finished off Vitali Mykolenko’s ball. City, meanwhile, were coasting after Erling Haaland doubled their lead over Fulham.

Newcastle now needed a goal just as desperately as Forest needed two, while Villa would finish fifth if they could hold out at Old Trafford.

They thought they had gone one better. Manchester United keeper Altir Bayindir, chosen ahead of Andre Onana, inexplicably failed in the simple task of picking a long ball into his box from Villa substitute keeper Robin Olsen, allowing Morgan Rogers to take control of the ball and score. It looked a legitimate goal, and VAR would surely have allowed it to stand – but the referee had already blown his whistle as it was heading into the net.

The absolute insanity of that decision was hammered home even further when, three and a half minutes later, Manchester United went ahead, Amad Diallo nodding home Bruno Fernandes’ lofted ball into the box. The table shifts again: Newcastle back into fifth, despite still being behind, and Villa down to sixth. Villa’s sense of injustice was only deepened as United went 2-0 up late on through Christian Eriksen’s penalty after Ian Maatsen felled Diallo inside the box.

With Forest looking every bit as knackered and leggy as they have since March, that left no real prospect of the table changing again bar the possibility of Forest getting an equaliser to overtake Villa and upgrade a Conference League place into a Europa League spot.

That equaliser did not come, nor were Villa able to pull off a miracle. The final whistles confirmed the final standings: Manchester City third. Chelsea fourth. Newcastle fifth, despite their defeat. Aston Villa in the Europa League. Nottingham Forest in the Conference League.