Even though Leicester City defeated West Ham 2-1 on Sunday at the King Power Stadium, they have been dropped to the Championship. The Foxes needed to defeat the Hammers and for Everton to lose to Bournemouth at Goodison Park, but Sean Dyche’s team defeated the Cherries by a tense 1-0 score to send the 2015–16 Premier League champions to the bottom of the table. After 34 minutes, Harvey Barnes gave Leicester the lead against West Ham, who were already safe and looking ahead to their Europa Conference League final the following week on Wednesday.
With Everton and Bournemouth still without a goal, the Foxes were temporarily lifted out of the relegation zone. However, Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal after 57 minutes at Goodison Park dropped Leicester back into the bottom three, and the players at the King Power Stadium were swiftly made aware of the situation. Just after the hour mark, Wout Faes made it 2-0 for Leicester, and with 11 minutes remaining, Pablo Fornals gave West Ham a goal back.
Everton stay up on a dramatic #PL final day, while Leicester City and Leeds United are relegated pic.twitter.com/N88QxOVNKy
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 28, 2023
And even though Leicester managed to hold on for the victory, it was ultimately insufficient since Everton also managed to score a slim victory over Bournemouth. Since Leicester won the Premier League in 2015–16 and the Foxes also won the FA Cup in 2020–21, just three clubs—Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea—have done so.
Early in April, Leicester fired manager Brendan Rodgers, but interim manager Dean Smith hasn’t been able to turn around the team’s performance since. The Foxes finish with 34 points, three fewer than Everton in 17th position.
