Stats and stories you might have missed from the Premier League as Everton bids an emotional farewell | OneFootball

The penultimate Sunday of the 2024-25 Premier League season had five matches scheduled.

Four kicked off before Champions League hopefuls Arsenal and Newcastle United locked horns at the Emirates Stadium in the late game.

Earlier in the day, Everton hosted their final game at their spiritual home, with relegated Southampton the visitors. West Ham then entertained Nottingham Forest, who still have an outside chance of seeing European Cup football return to the City Ground next season.

Across the capital, a west London derby took place, with Brentford and Fulham seeking bragging rights. While that was going on, there was a battle between two demoted sides as Leicester City welcomed Ipswich Town.

Even with a handful of matches taking place, it’s easy to miss key moments. But don’t worry—Squawka is here to highlight some things you might have overlooked.

Goodbye Goodison

It had been known for a while, but that didn’t make the emotions less powerful.

Goodison Park this afternoon bid farewell to Premier League football and Everton’s men’s team. There was good news: the 132-year-old stadium will not be demolished, instead staying in the club’s ownership to be used predominantly by their women’s team.

Although the announcement was significant, the departure of David Moyes’ team still represents the end of an era.

Today’s match was the 2,327th top-flight match played at Goodison Park, 100 more than any other stadium in the history of English football. They couldn’t have picked a better final opponent, with Southampton lying rock bottom of the Premier League and having lost four of their last five away games.

But the Toffees had to work for their 2-0 victory, with Iliman Ndiaye netting a brace. It meant he scored five goals in his last seven games at Goodison in the Premier League, having failed to score in his first ten.

Ndiaye thus goes into the history books as the last player to score at Goodison for Everton’s men’s team.

Nuno’s road warriors

Finishing in the top five is still not entirely out of the question for Nuno Espírito Santo’s side, although it is out of their own hands. Nottingham Forest came into this weekend’s fixture seventh and are guaranteed to finish no lower than that. To have any chance of sneaking into the top five, Forest needs to win their remaining two games.

Even if they do that, they need Manchester City to drop points and Chelsea or Aston Villa to lose their final game; Forest will host Chelsea on the final day. If they miss out, it’s still been a successful campaign to an extent, as they’ll be playing European football next season, though whether it’s the Europa League or Conference League remains to be determined.

Phase one at the London Stadium against West Ham proved a successful endeavour. Morgan Gibbs-White put the visitors ahead, recording 43 goal contributions in the Premier League for Forest (17 goals, 26 assists), just one shy of Ian Woan’s club record in the competition (44).

After the break, Nikola Milenkovic doubled their lead when he converted Anthony Elanga’s pass. This means only Mohamed Salah (18) and Jacob Murphy (12) have more Premier League assists than Elanga this season (11). It is also the most assists by a Forest player in a top-flight campaign since 1994–95 (Bryan Roy, 11 in 1994–95).

Jarrod Bowen, who has now scored in four consecutive home league games, pulled one back late on to make the final minutes nervy for Espirito Santo’s team, but they held on, consequently setting up a tantalising final-day showdown against the Hammers’ cross-city rivals.

Today also concluded Forest’s road game schedule of the 2024-25 season, which proved to be a historical one. In the end, only champions Liverpool (11) have won more Premier League away games than Forest (10). It is the fourth time they have reached double figures for away wins in a top-flight campaign, after 1977-78, 1978-79, and 1994-95 (10 each time, all in 22-team leagues).

West London thriller

You can hardly blame Fulham supporters for feeling apprehensive when their side goes in front. On 25 occasions before today’s game at Brentford, they’ve led a Premier League match only to lose six of those while drawing another five, meaning they’ve dropped 28 points, a league high. And wouldn’t you know it, Raul Jimenez put them in front at the Gtech Community Stadium before Bryan Mbeumo (who then missed a penalty) and Yoane Wissa turned it around for the hosts.

If the game had ended there and then, it would have been another instance of Marco Silva’s team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but there was a twist to this tale. Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson, both coming off the bench, scored within two minutes of each other, meaning Brentford have conceded 11 goals to opposition substitutes in the Premier League this season; no side has let in more.

So, rather than focusing on the Cottagers’ inability to hold onto a lead, their powers of resiliency came to the foreground. For the 22nd time, Fulham were behind in a Premier League game, only to go on and win six of them. Adding three draws, that’s a total of 21 points accumulated after falling behind, second-best in the league and only behind Liverpool (22).

The last Vardy party

Everton weren’t the only ones saying farewell as the King Power Stadium faithful witnessed Jamie Vardy play his final home game in Leicester City colours. Incidentally, this was the former England international’s 500th overall appearance for the Foxes in all competitions.

Even more coincidental is the fact that May 18 also marks the exact day that Vardy signed for the club 13 years ago, so it’s a fitting send-off for this legendary striker. From two relegations to two major trophies, Vardy’s time as a Leicester player has been full of ups and downs and many goals. This is it, as the powers that be decided Vardy would not feature in the club’s final Premier League game at Bournemouth next Sunday.

And wouldn’t you know, on his special day, Vardy broke the deadlock. It was a landmark effort, representing his 200th goal for the club. To say he leaves behind big shoes to fill is an understatement. A second consecutive home outing with a goal, and there was a run of 14 matches to start the season in which he netted six times while creating three more.

Of those 200 strikes, 144 have come in England’s top division, meaning he is behind only Harry Kane (213 for Tottenham Hotspur), Sergio Aguero (184 for Man City), and Thierry Henry (175 for Arsenal) in the list of top scorers whose goals in the competition have all been with a single club.

Kasey McAteer, who lined up on the right flank of Vardy, doubled Leicester’s lead as they ran out 2-0 winners, subsequently extending their unbeaten run to three matches, which now includes back-to-back home wins. But this was Vardy’s day, a certified Foxes legend, and it will be hard to see his rags-to-riches story replicated.

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