Abdoulaye Doucoure the saviour, Tottenhams crossroads and 6 Premier League final day talking points
The Independent A topsy-turvy final day of the Premier League season saw 33 goals scored across the ten simultaneous matches, with Everton ultimately surviving the three-way relegation battle and Aston Villa beating Tottenham to a place in Europe next season.
Here are the five key talking points as the 2022/23 season came to a close:
Dean Smith made a bold call in Leicester's penultimate game to drop James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, which paid off after the woodwork smiled on the Foxes.
Both players returned as Smith rolled the dice, admittedly with little choice. But the response from Barnes was magnificent. Full of running, sharp turns and intelligence on the ball, the Leicester star's neat finish after an explosive run underlined his class.
Barnes was hardly at risk of playing in the Championship next season, given the inevitable interest this summer, but his reputation was enhanced here with his attitude and composure under the utmost pressure of a final day relegation decider.
It was not to be enough and now a move and opportunity, perhaps at a club poised to play in Europe, awaits Barnes following Leicester's heartache.
