After being denied their rightful place in this season’s Europa League, Crystal Palace finally have their revenge. In Oliver Glasner’s final match in charge, it was fitting that Jean-Philippe Mateta should score what turned out to be the winning goal after his January move to Milan was scuppered by a failed medical. It has been that kind of season.Having rescued the south London club from the brink of extinction only 16 years ago, how Steve Parish must have relished this occasion. The Palace chair found himself sitting next to the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, for the biggest night in their history and he can now start planning for the Europa League campaign that was denied to them as last year’s FA Cup winners were adjudged to have broken European football’s governing body’s rules on multi-club ownership. As for Glasner, who performed a full-length dive on the pitch before going up to collect his winners’ medal, it ends any debate over whether he is the greatest manager in Palace’s history. Continue reading...
One the final day 12 months ago, they missed out on Champions League football before this year slipped into chaos with Nuno Espirito Santo sacked in September. Since then, with Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and now Vitor Pereira, it has been a wild ride of battling relegation and challenging in Europe. Pereira was the man to eventually take them to safety - and the Europa League semi-finals - but there needs to be a season of calm and certainty at the City Ground next season.
Bournemouth visit Nottingham Forest on Sunday knowing they are already assured of a first European adventure next season – but they need a number of results to go their way to land a place in the Champions League. It was Forest who enjoyed their own continental quest this year, with an impressive run to the Europa League semi-finals providing a welcome distraction to their domestic woes. Vitor Pereira took over from Sean Dyche in February and has steered the Tricky Trees to safety thanks in no small part to an eight-game unbeaten run that ended with a 3-2 defeat by Manchester United last week.
Liverpool have lost the "perfect balance" that they had last season, says their former goalkeeper Sander Westerveld, as the "story of the season" continued in Saturday's draw against Chelsea. Arne Slot's side took the lead early in the first half against the out-of-form Blues, but their "passive" approach cost them three points as they failed to confirm Champions League qualification. "It's the story of this season," Westerveld told BBC Radio Merseyside after the match.
