Arsenal secures return to Champions League on day of farewells for Everton and Vardy

By Canadian Press on May 18, 2025.

Arsenal sealed its place in next season’s Champions League and Nottingham Forest stayed in the hunt for one with victories in the Premier League on an emotional afternoon of farewells for Everton and Jamie Vardy on Sunday.

Declan Rice’s outside-of-the-area curler into the far corner earned Arsenal a 1-0 win over Newcastle and the second automatic Champions League spot, alongside already-crowned Premier League champion Liverpool.

Five teams below them are battling for the remaining three places in Europe’s lucrative top club competition and the fight couldn’t be closer with a week left.

Newcastle stayed in third place, tied on points with Chelsea and Aston Villa and just one point ahead of Manchester City and Forest, which held on to beat West Ham 2-1 and stay alive in the race for a top-five finish.

That would be a remarkable achievement for Forest, which narrowly avoided relegation last season.

City has a game in hand, at home to Bournemouth on Tuesday, and can jump to third with a win. Forest finishes the season at home to Chelsea in what could yet prove to effectively be a Champions League playoff.

A tribute to Awoniyi

Morgan Gibbs-White and Nikola Milenkovic were the scorers for Forest at the Olympic Stadium, before West Ham mounted a late comeback and saw in-form forward Jarrod Bowen reduce the deficit.

Gibbs-White dedicated his goal to teammate Taiwo Awoniyi, who is recovering in the hospital from emergency abdominal surgery after colliding with a goalpost in a match last weekend.

The Forest captain held Awoniyi’s shirt up to the crowd after scoring, with the team having warmed up wearing shirts with Awoniyi’s name and No. 9 on the back — with a message on the front reading, “We’re all with you Taiwo.”

Winning farewell to Goodison

Everton said goodbye to Goodison, its home of 133 years, with a 2-0 victory over Southampton thanks to two goals by Iliman Ndiaye.

Fans wept and former stars, like Wayne Rooney, took part in an “End of an Era” post-match party inside one of English soccer’s classic stadiums that will continue to be in operation.

It will be the new home of Everton’s women’s team from next season, while the men’s team is headed to a nearby 53,000-seat stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Vardy delivers on his big day

It was a special day, too, for Vardy, who was playing his 500th and last match for Leicester exactly 13 years to the day he joined from non-league Fleetwood Town.

He marked the occasion by scoring against Ipswich with his 200th goal for the club he famously helped to win the Premier League against the odds in 2016.

It was the first goal in Leicester’s 2-0 win over Ipswich and Vardy was given a guard of honor by teammates when he was substituted in the 80th minute.

Fulham scored two goals in a three-minute span from 2-1 down to win 3-2 at Brentford.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press

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