Liverpool and Chelsea grab top-four spots as Leicester crumble

Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum - Pool - Reuters

Reuters: Liverpool and Chelsea grabbed the final two Champions League places but Leicester City fell short of a top-four finish for the second successive season on a nerve-jangling final day of the Premier League season on Sunday.

Liverpool avoided any drama as they beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to finish in third spot – a silver lining to a difficult season in which their defence of the title crumbled.

Chelsea lost 2-1 at Aston Villa – a result that could have been curtains for them in the top-four battle.

But they were saved as arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur twice came from a goal down to win 4-2 at Leicester City. Harry Kane was on target for Tottenham to win the Premier League Golden Boot award for the third time with 23 goals while Gareth Bale struck twice late on.

Jamie Vardy scored twice from the spot for Leicester who also let a top-four finish slip last season in the final week.

Liverpool finished on 69 points with Chelsea on 67 and Leicester, who will enter the Europa League, on 66.

Sergio Aguero came on in the 65th minute and scored twice in his final league game for champions Manchester City as they thrashed Everton 5-0 before being presented with the trophy on the pitch in front of 10,000 fans at The Etihad.  Argentine Aguero now has 184 Premier League goals for City, the most of any player for a single club in the competition - one ahead of Wayne Rooney’s tally for Manchester United.

City manager Pep Guardiola, who has now won three Premier League titles in his five seasons at the club, broke down in tears as spoke of 32-year-old Aguero’s impact at the club where he has spent a decade and became their all-time leading scorer.

Second-placed Manchester United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 to finish 12 points adrift of City. It was Nuno Espirito Santo’s final game as manager of Wolves.

West Ham United will join Leicester City in the Europa League after finishing sixth - rounding off a superb season in style with a 3-0 home win over Southampton.

Tottenham will be England’s representative in the inaugural Europa Conference League although that will be scant consolation for the London club for whom Kane could have possibly played his last game on Sunday, with a big-money move likely.

Bale also scored twice for Tottenham on what was probably the last game of his loan spell from Real Madrid.