Fulham were on Monday relegated from the English Premier League with a 2-0 loss at home to Burnley that assured the Clarets of their top-flight status.
London club Fulham now join already-demoted West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United in the second-tier EFL Championship next season.
Fulham had to avoid defeat at Craven Cottage on Monday to maintain their slim hopes of beating the drop, but first-half goals from Burnley’s Ashley Westwood and Chris Wood put paid to their chances of staying up.
Photo: Reuters
Fulham’s defeat also meant all three relegation places were decided with at least three games to go, ensuring that there would be no last-day drama in the battle to beat the drop.
“It has been looming, but it doesn’t hide the disappointment, hurt and sadness I feel tonight,” Fulham manager Scott Parker told the BBC. “It’s inevitable now. I am gutted.”
“Tonight is how the season has gone at times. Between the two boxes we did very well. The difference was defensively the two goals we conceded were poor, and in the final moment when you need to score and make good decisions we did not have that,” he said.
Monday’s reverse meant Fulham went straight back down after one season in the top flight.
“The club needs to make big decisions,” Parker said. “We’ve had a relegation, a promotion and a relegation. The roller-coaster of that and the highs and lows is not something you want.”
Burnley were sold in February to a US-based consortium, and Clarets manager Sean Dyche was proud of the way his team had coped on and off the field during some uncertain times for the northwest side.
“It is important for the club, it is important for the town,” Dyche said. “It’s been a real challenging season with the sale of the club.”
“There was not a lot of investment from the outgoing owners and we’ve had a lot of injury problems,” he added.
Burnley were twice denied early by Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, before they went ahead in the 35th minute when Westwood, found at the back post by Matej Vydra, slotted the ball into the net.
The visitors then doubled their lead a minute before the break when Wood let fly with a shot into the top corner.
Areola appeared fortunate to stay on the field in the 67th minute when, after he had raced out of his area, the ball appeared to come off the goalkeeper’s arm as Vydra tried to go around him.
However, there was no video assistant referees (VAR) intervention, with officials deciding Areola had escaped a red card because the presence of a covering defender meant there had not been a denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
VAR is not empowered to recommend a booking, hence the lack of even a yellow card.
However, Fulham’s luck ran out at the other end of the pitch in the 70th minute when Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s shot beat Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope only to bounce clear off the underside of the bar.
SERIE A
Reuters, MILAN
Juventus would be excluded from next season’s Serie A if the Italian soccer club decides to persist with the proposed European Super League project, Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina said on Monday.
Nine of the clubs who tried to break away, including six English Premier League teams, backed out of the Super League idea, but Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid are still involved in the project.
“If Juventus does not respect the rules they will be out,” Gravina told a news conference. “At the time of registration for the next Serie A championship the club will be excluded if they decide not to withdraw from the Super League.”
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
AP
Playing the all-English UEFA Champions League final on home soil at Wembley is proving problematic. Instead, the players and fans of Chelsea and Manchester City could be headed to Portugal.
UEFA’s hopes of playing its club showpiece in Istanbul have been scuppered for a second consecutive season, this time by Turkey being added to England’s “red list” of countries with severe COVID-19 outbreaks.
The British government decision that made it impossible for supporters to travel to Turkey from England came on Friday, two days after the semi-final lineup was completed.
The government immediately talked with UEFA about the possibility of moving the May 29 final to Wembley.
Discussions between UEFA and the government failed to reach a resolution on Monday, with the competition organizer wanting waivers to allow media, sponsors and guests to fly in without having to quarantine, people familiar with the talks said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
UEFA gave the British government until yesterday to decide whether authorities could offer all of the travel waivers required.
If not, UEFA would consider taking the final to Portugal. Porto is one of the backup options to play this season’s final in the 50,000-capacity Estadio do Dragao.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS