Chelsea squeezed into the top four spots despite losing 2-1 at Aston Villa, helped by London rivals Tottenham, who beat Leicester on a dramatic final day.
Chelsea jumped in and out of the Champions League places over a topsy-turvy 90 minutes at Villa Park, despite being haunted by their former player Bertrand Traore on Sunday.
Chelsea dominated the early stages as they camped in Villa’s defensive third, but the hosts eventually took the sting out and went ahead through former Chelsea man Bertrand Traore’s near-post effort from a low, well-worked corner (43).
With Leicester and Liverpool also winning at the time, Chelsea were already fifth by the time Anwar El Ghazi converted a penalty to make it 2-0 after Traore had been tripped by Jorginho (52).
Ben Chilwell clawed one back for Chelsea with a far-post finish (70), but Spurs equalised at Leicester to move the Blues back into fourth, and then took the lead to cement their spot, eventually winning 4-2.
Cesar Azpilicueta was dismissed late on for striking Jack Grealish in the face, but the final placing is another mark of progress for Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel. Villa, finishing 11th, have ended a fine season with back-to-back wins over so-called ‘big six’ sides.
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