Premier League final day winners and losers: Joy for Spurs and Salah, woe for Burnley

Away from the matter of who finished top there was no shortage of other storylines, from relegation to European qualification and the Golden Boot, decided on the final day of the Premier League season. Here are the winners and losers.

Winners: Tottenham, Salah, Brighton

Tottenham Hotspur clinched fourth place and a return to the Champions League after two years away with a 5-0 stroll at bottom club Norwich. 

Knowing a victory would put them out of reach of neighbours Arsenal, who did their bit in a 5-1 home win over Everton, Spurs strolled past their long-condemned hosts with braces from Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevski, plus a Harry Kane header.

Liverpool might have missed out on the main prize but their 3-1 win over Wolves did glean a trophy of sorts. 

Mohamed Salah’s 23rd league goal of the season ensured he finished level with Tottenham’s Son in the leading scorers’ chart but and shared the Golden Boot with the South Korean.

Brighton also enjoyed a fruitful final 45 minutes of the season. Trailing at half-time to West Ham, they were in danger of finishing as low as 14th. 

But second-half goals from Joel Veltman, Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck – and results elsewhere – lifted them to ninth, their best ever top-flight finish and several million pounds better off in prize money.

Losers: Burnley, West Ham, Rangnick

Burnley’s five-year run in the Premier League limped to a sorry conclusion with a 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle, while Leeds won at Brentford – and it might be about to get much worse. 

Relegation means the Clarets must pay back the bulk of a £65m loan taken out by ALK Capital when it bought the club in December 2020. Player sales look likely but an uncertain period awaits.

West Ham had the chance to upgrade from Europa Conference League qualification to Europa League, if they won at Brighton and Manchester United lost at Crystal Palace. 

It looked on for a while, and United held up their end of the bargain, but the Hammers folded in the second period and were forced to settle for seventh place.

United’s 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park also underlined just how much Ralf Rangnick’s spell as interim manager fizzled out. 

The German, who is set to be replaced by former Ajax head coach Erik ten Hag this summer, lost seven of his last 11 games in charge.