Premier League relegation battle LIVE: Results and reaction as Everton survive

For about 40 minutes, including the half-time break, an era that dated back to the time Winston Churchill was Prime Minister was ending. As it stood, Everton’s 69-year stay in the top flight was entering its final throes. A first relegation since 1951 beckoned.

This threatened to be a historic ignominy. Instead, it produced a place in Goodison Park folklore for Abdoulaye Doucoure; given the concerns about Everton’s finances and the question if the club could continue as a going concern without Premier League revenues, the midfielder might not have just been their savour in a footballing sense.

But a rescuer he was. There were fireworks outside Goodison; those inside came from Doucoure’s right boot. A bearpit so often as Everton beat the drop last season, their rickety home was subdued, anxious, expecting the worst as Leicester led and they did not. Then it erupted.

Everton’s matchwinner Abdoulaye Doucoure stopped by to chat with BBC Sport about his brilliant strike that kept the club in the Premier League.

“It was a huge game for us. We are so happy. It’s hard to describe our feeling,” he said, “We fought all season to compete and save the club. This afternoon we gave everything. It was not our best game but we gave everything and got the result.

“I’m always going for the second ball. I knew I had to strike it as hard as possible and hit the target. Thank god it went in. It was an amazing feeling.

“We knew after Jordan Pickford’s incident we knew there would be extra time. We were able to run more after the goal. It was long but we got the reward.

“I’m not a hero. Nobody is here. We work and play for Everton football club. We have to be much better than that. We need to realise the mistakes we made this season.

“Everyone showed passion at the end but next season we need to come back stronger and put Everton high up.”

On the result: “We were playing for pride today. We also had the chance to finish seventh but that wasn’t the case today. It is about showing the fans some fight and determination. It is not an easy place to come away from home. Leeds are fighting for their lives and we put in a great performance. They put a lot of balls into the box and we stood up to that well.”

On Lucas Moura’s goal: “Fantastic for him. He has been really professional and waiting for his moments this season. When someone is out of contract, they might hide but full credit to him. That moment is the perfect moment for him to finish his career with the club.”

On Spurs’ season: “It has been disappointing. We can’t let this win dust over that. There’s a lot to work on and we have had to show fight in some moments. A club this size should not be finishing eighth and we need to go away and look at how we can improve.”

On his future: “I have focused on this season and helping the team as much as possible. I am just looking forward to a nice break and some games with England.”

Leicester captain Jonny Evans spoke to Sky Sports following the team’s relegation saying: “Hard to take. We knew it would be a tough ask. We knew we had to win our game and hope something went for us. It didn’t.

“As the game went on we were asking the referee, asking the linesman [about the Everton score]. There were a few cheers but we didn’t know what they were about. We were trying to cope with that and focus on taking our game right to the end.

“It’s hard to put a finger on things. Everyone wants to blame things. As a club we haven’t been good enough. We’re out of the league. It’s a great club. I have no doubt it’ll bounce back.

“There’s so many good teams in this league. Everything has to go right for you. It’s a really competitive league. It’s tough. If you’re not on it, you get punished.

“After the first couple of months after a bad start it’s hard to turn it round. We got ourselves into a bad place and found it difficult to get out.

“You never know what way the club will see things. We will have to deal with the uncertainty. A lot of players are out of contract and I’d guess there will be a lot of changes at the club.”

“I don’t know. I can only come to that decision when I know if they want me and what the outlook and the strategy of the club are going to look like and what direction they want to go in.

“Those are some pretty big things that need to be talked about and sorted out before next season. If that’s all going in the right direction for me and the board then we’ll see.”

Speaking to BT Sport after his side’s 4-1 defeat against Tottenham, Sam Allardyce was hugely critical of his side’s performance which saw Leeds relegated from the Premier League after a three-year stay.

He said: “It’s professional suicide – you prepare for a game and give the players tactics and then make huge errors. So we messed up again. We tried to fight our way back but messed up in a big way again because we couldn’t find the back of the net.

“We had 21 shots but two on target – that tells you everything about our capabilities of attacking – yes we can create opportunities but our quality of finishing was poor and then at the other end switching off and, in the end, Tottenham had better quality than we had.

“I wanted to go out with a sense of pride today but unfortunately I didn’t see that .”

Leeds’ three-season stay in the Premier League is over after a 4-1 home defeat to Tottenham confirmed their relegation.

Harry Kane and Pedro Porro scored early in either half to put Spurs 2-0 up and, although Jack Harrison reduced the deficit, Kane struck a game-clinching second in what could be his last game for the London club.

Tottenham substitute Lucas Moura rubbed salt into Leeds’ wounds by waltzing through a porous defence in stoppage time to complete their misery.

The final day of the Premier League was always set to be a dramatic one at the foot of the table, with the last two remaining relegation spots the only major matter left to be concluded.

With Southampton already down, Leeds United, Everton and Leicester City were fighting it out to survive – with the Toffees in the driving seat at the beginning of the afternoon and knowing that a win for themselves made everything else irrelevant.

What unfolded though saw one side quickly out of the running and one doing their job, but needing to wait to confirm their future.

Here’s how the final day played out at the bottom of the league:

Leicester have equalled the record for most relegations from the English top flight with 12 the same amount as Birmingham City.