Aston Villa narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the Premier League season, thanks to their 1-1 away draw at West Ham United.
The recently promoted side started the day in 17th position, hovering above Watford on goal difference. This meant that Villa had to ensure that they did not suffer a worse result than their close competitors on the final day of action.
Their game against West Ham remained goalless until the 84th minute when Jack Grealish scored in dramatic fashion to hand the visitors an unlikely lead. Unfortunately, Villa dropped back into an uncertain predicament just a minute later, when Andriy Yarmolenko equalized for the Hammers just moments after the restart. With the game ended in a draw, Aston Villa fans anxiously awaited the result of Watford’s game against Arsenal.
Clearly suffering from nerves, Watford gave away a fifth-minute penalty to the Gunners, which captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang successfully converted. Kieran Tierney doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 24th minute, while Aubameyang grabbed his second just minutes later to hand Arsenal a comfortable 3-0 lead. While Troy Deeney and Danny Welbeck pulled two goals back for Watford, the Gunners held on for a 3-2 victory, resulting in Watford’s relegation.
Previously in 19th place, Bournemouth enjoyed an impressive 3-1 win away at Everton. While this allowed them to leapfrog Watford into 18th position, Villa’s draw meant that the Cherries also faced relegation by a mere point.
