26th July 2020
By Adam Holt
West Ham United 1 (Yarmolenko '85)
Aston Villa 1 (Grealish '84)
Before we get to the rollercoaster of emotions that came as part of the Premier League's final day, let's begin by going through the line-ups for the Hammers and the Villans in what was a massive fixture in the recent history of Aston Villa.
West Ham United:
Aston Villa:
There were enough permutations in the Premier League relegation battle going into the final day of the season, where there were so many ways in which Villa, Watford and Bournemouth could either be relegated or avoid relegation to the Championship entirely.
In basic form these were the permutations, from Aston Villa's point of view;
Win: Keeps Villa in the Premier League, unless Watford beat Arsenal by two clear goals more than Villa's win over West Ham. Bournemouth relegated.
Draw: Keeps Villa in the Premier League unless Watford win. Bournemouth relegated.
Loss: Bournemouth beating Everton/Watford beating Arsenal relegates Villa. If both Watford and Bournemouth won, Watford survive and Villa and Bournemouth are relegated and vice versa, just with Watford being relegated with Villa instead.
Luckily, Villa did enough in their 1-1 draw at the London Stadium against West Ham, with a 3-2 Watford loss securing Villa's status in the Premier League for another season and despite Bournemouth securing an excellent victory, they were still relegated to the Championship alongside the Hornets.
Now for the match itself...
The first half of the game at the London Stadium did not start at all well for Villa, as a mistake from Ezri Konsa putting the in-form Michail Antonio in one-on-one with Pepe Reina, with the West Ham striker missing the target, to the relief of everyone associated with Aston Villa. My heartrate slowed. Slightly. Still 0-0.
There was soon to be jubilation amongst Villa fans when an Aubameyang brace and a Kieran Tierney goal gave Arsenal a 3-0 lead over Watford after just over half an hour into the match, leaving to many to write them off completely with no-one expecting them to come close to securing any points against the Gunners.
Meanwhile, there had been plenty of action at Goodison Park, where Bournemouth took a 1-0 lead over the Toffees, and still fighting for their Premier League lives after Josh King put the Cherries in front from the penalty spot. Moise Kean then equalised at the end of the first half with his second goal for Everton to not only bring the Toffees level, but also joy to the fans of Watford and Aston Villa.
As for the remainder of the first half at the London Stadium, it was still a tight and tense affair, with both sides not really yielding many chances to take the lead. The best chance of the first half (aside from Antonio's miss in the first ten minutes) was a Grealish effort from a decent distance outside the area that curled just wide of Fabianski's far post. Half time came. Villa still level. Villa still a Premier League side. Onto the second 45 minutes, which turned out to be the longest 45 minutes of the entire season!
Much of the second half passed (slowly) like the first, with few chances to name, with West Ham's best chance coming from Sebastien Haller, with a header floating over Pepe Reina's crossbar to keep the game level. Bad news for Villa came in the form of Bournemouth securing a 3-1 lead at Goodison Park which meant that the Cherries were only a point behind the Villans, which also meant that if Villa lost the game, they would be relegated to the Championship. Things were made even more nervy for the Villa faithful when Watford scored twice in the second half to make it 3-2 to Arsenal, making to last twenty or so minutes of the match at the London Stadium extremely nervy and tense for Villa. But then, elation. Grealish received a pass from John McGinn and after tricky footwork from the Villa captain unleashed a powerful effort into the back of the West Ham net that surely secure Villa's Premier League status. 1-0. There was more drama to come. Almost immediately, Yarmolenko received the ball and the Ukrainian unleashed a shot which took a massive deflection off the boot of Villa's saviour Jack Grealish which looped over a scrambling Pepe Reina and into the back of the net to make it a very tense final ten minutes of the game. 1-1.
Villa spent most of the remaining minutes of the game clearing efforts out of their box, and wasting the time away by going to the corner flag and winning corner after corner.
And so the final whistle went with Villa safe, but still waiting for results to come in from Watford's game against Arsenal and Bournemouth's tie with Everton. Eventually final scores with Watford losing and Bournemouth winning meant Aston Villa were made certain of a place in the Premier League next season and with it joy and jubilation for everyone associated with the club. Aston Villa are still in the Premier League!
There was soon to be jubilation amongst Villa fans when an Aubameyang brace and a Kieran Tierney goal gave Arsenal a 3-0 lead over Watford after just over half an hour into the match, leaving to many to write them off completely with no-one expecting them to come close to securing any points against the Gunners.
Meanwhile, there had been plenty of action at Goodison Park, where Bournemouth took a 1-0 lead over the Toffees, and still fighting for their Premier League lives after Josh King put the Cherries in front from the penalty spot. Moise Kean then equalised at the end of the first half with his second goal for Everton to not only bring the Toffees level, but also joy to the fans of Watford and Aston Villa.
As for the remainder of the first half at the London Stadium, it was still a tight and tense affair, with both sides not really yielding many chances to take the lead. The best chance of the first half (aside from Antonio's miss in the first ten minutes) was a Grealish effort from a decent distance outside the area that curled just wide of Fabianski's far post. Half time came. Villa still level. Villa still a Premier League side. Onto the second 45 minutes, which turned out to be the longest 45 minutes of the entire season!
Much of the second half passed (slowly) like the first, with few chances to name, with West Ham's best chance coming from Sebastien Haller, with a header floating over Pepe Reina's crossbar to keep the game level. Bad news for Villa came in the form of Bournemouth securing a 3-1 lead at Goodison Park which meant that the Cherries were only a point behind the Villans, which also meant that if Villa lost the game, they would be relegated to the Championship. Things were made even more nervy for the Villa faithful when Watford scored twice in the second half to make it 3-2 to Arsenal, making to last twenty or so minutes of the match at the London Stadium extremely nervy and tense for Villa. But then, elation. Grealish received a pass from John McGinn and after tricky footwork from the Villa captain unleashed a powerful effort into the back of the West Ham net that surely secure Villa's Premier League status. 1-0. There was more drama to come. Almost immediately, Yarmolenko received the ball and the Ukrainian unleashed a shot which took a massive deflection off the boot of Villa's saviour Jack Grealish which looped over a scrambling Pepe Reina and into the back of the net to make it a very tense final ten minutes of the game. 1-1.
Villa spent most of the remaining minutes of the game clearing efforts out of their box, and wasting the time away by going to the corner flag and winning corner after corner.
And so the final whistle went with Villa safe, but still waiting for results to come in from Watford's game against Arsenal and Bournemouth's tie with Everton. Eventually final scores with Watford losing and Bournemouth winning meant Aston Villa were made certain of a place in the Premier League next season and with it joy and jubilation for everyone associated with the club. Aston Villa are still in the Premier League!