A dramatic Premier League Sunday saw Dominic Calvert-Lewin net the winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time to deal a serious blow to Brighton’s European hopes, while Brentford twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace and keep their own fate alive.
Leeds 1-0 Brighton
It was not supposed to happen like this for Brighton. A first-half display of real quality, two posts struck, a gilt-edged Welbeck chance cleared off the line by Ethan Ampadu – and then, with the game apparently petering out into a goalless draw, Jan Paul van Hecke played a casual back-pass that Calvert-Lewin had been waiting for all afternoon.
The striker intercepted, rounded Verbruggen, and rolled into an empty net. It was Leeds’ first shot on target of the match.
The victory lifts Daniel Farke’s side to 13th in the table, with Leeds now heading to West Ham on the final day in remarkably strong form. Brighton remain seventh, and their grip on European football for next season has loosened significantly heading into their final game against Manchester United.
Brentford 2-2 Crystal Palace
The story at the Gtech Community Stadium was one of missed opportunity, albeit with less at stake for Crystal Palace given their Conference League final appearance in Leipzig next week.
Ismaila Sarr buried a penalty inside six minutes after Caoimhin Kelleher hauled the Senegalese winger down inside the box, following a VAR check.
Palace were rampant after that, striking the post through Sarr again and having Jorgen Strand Larsen hit the woodwork before Dango Ouattara equalised in controversial fashion – a deflection off Canvot’s header, which then struck Ouattara’s temple and looped into the net.
Adam Wharton scored his first Premier League goal on 52 minutes, a low strike that squirmed under Kelleher, to restore Palace’s advantage.
It looked as though Glasner’s side were coasting. Then, in the 88th minute, Kayode’s long throw was flicked on by substitute Sepp van den Berg and Ouattara was there again at the back post to nod home his second of the afternoon.
Brentford went hunting for a winner in a frenetic final five minutes, with Schade firing over from 10 yards and Thiago blazing wide from a central position, but the game ended 2-2.
Everton 1-3 Sunderland
The Europa League conversation took an unexpected turn at Goodison Park, where Sunderland came from a goal down to beat Everton 3-1 and stake their own late claim for a European spot.
Merlin Rohl gave Everton the lead on 43 minutes with a heavily deflected effort off Granit Xhaka, but Sunderland were a different side after the break.
Brian Brobbey levelled midway through the second half after Enzo Le Fee picked him out through the middle, and Le Fee then turned scorer himself in the 81st minute, directing a first-time finish past Jordan Pickford from inside the box.
Wilson Isidor capped the turnaround in stoppage time, converting after Habib Diarra’s low cross evaded every Everton defender.
The result lifts Sunderland to ninth in the table, just one point behind eighth and two behind Brighton, as they head into a final-day home game against Chelsea. Everton, who face Tottenham in their last fixture, see their slim European hopes effectively extinguished.
Wolves 1-1 Fulham
Already-relegated Wolves and a Fulham side with little left to play for shared a 1-1 draw at Molineux.
Eighteen-year-old Mateus Mane opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a brilliant first-time finish from the edge of the box, becoming the youngest player in Premier League history to both score a goal and concede a penalty in the same match – the latter coming when he caught Timothy Castagne inside the area just before half-time.
Antonee Robinson converted from the spot to level, the American becoming the first player from his nation to score a Premier League penalty since Clint Dempsey for Fulham in January 2011.
Armstrong hit the outside of the post in the 68th minute and Mane came agonisingly close to setting up a winner with a teasing cross in the 83rd, but the game ended all square.
