Leicester relegated from Premier League despite beating West Ham

For Leicester City, never has a win felt so utterly crushing. Victory over West Ham on the final day of the season was insufficient to avoid relegation to the Championship, seven years on from lifting the Premier League title here and two on from winning the FA Cup. Leicester supporters frantically refreshed their phones and a couple had transistor radios glued to their ears as they prayed for a late twist in their favour at Goodison Park, but it was not forthcoming. Twenty-four hours earlier Leicester’s women avoided relegation on the final day but a repeat proved wishful thinking.

Things had all been going so well for Leicester until news of Abdoulaye Doucouré’s goal for Everton filtered through here. Harvey Barnes’s fine first-half goal paved the way to victory but suddenly a revved-up crowd were decidedly flat, silenced as reality set in. A couple of minutes later Saïd Benrahma rattled a post and any hope of a late, great escape was nearly all over there and then. The beaming smile on the face of Wout Faes after the defender headed in a Youri Tielemans free-kick to double Leicester’s lead felt somewhat cruel. Who was going to tell him?

“Come on Bournemouth” was the desperate rallying chant from the home fans with half an hour to play.

A few minutes before kick-off, the unmistakable sound of the bugle as Paul Hing performed the post-horn gallop he has played on Filbert Street for the past 14 years. Then the Premier League’s psychedelic pre-match anthem kicked in. The question was: for how much longer? A Leicester win was imperative if they were to have any chance of overhauling Everton. Dean Smith, who took charge with seven weeks and eight games remaining, laboured the point that Leicester had to focus on doing their