LIVERPOOL - It was a happy ending for Liverpool, if not for Roy Hodgson. Jurgen Klopp's side are champions no more but a traumatic season nonetheless ends with them returning to the Champions League.
They and Chelsea took the Premier League's final two spots on Monday (May 24), with Thomas Tuchel's team limping over the line with a 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa.
Leicester would have leapfrogged the Blues had they beaten Tottenham but, despite leading twice, they lost 4-2.
They faded when it mattered while Liverpool finished with a flourish. They took 26 points from their last 10 games after a mid-season spell of relegation form.
The defining moment of Liverpool's spring surge was Alisson's injury-time winner at West Bromwich Albion but Sadio Mane's troubled season ended with a double against Palace to clinch a fifth straight win.
The departing Hodgson who, at 73 years and 287 days, may forever remain the Premier League's oldest manager, bowed out with a defeat.
Liverpool, who bade a fond farewell to Gini Wijnaldum, could welcome back one of their least favourite former managers and their fans. This was a return of the Anfield atmosphere; supporters were spaced out but at 10,000 this was still Liverpool's biggest home crowd for 14 months. Few have missed their fans as much as Liverpool, and they were galvanised.
They could, however, have been behind. Hodgson's men made for obdurate opponents. Alisson denied Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend. Then Townsend spurned the clearest chance, shooting wide after intercepting Trent Alexander-Arnold's misplaced pass and sprinting clear.
But it drew a response and, after Alexander-Arnold, Rhys Williams and Mohamed Salah all came close, the precious goal. It was the second successive Sunday when Liverpool scored from a corner; this time, it did not involve Alisson.
When Andrew Robertson's corner came via Williams and Roberto Firmino to fall obligingly for Mane, he finished from close range. He has scored in eight consecutive games against Palace and he ensured there was no comeback with a deflected second after Salah found him.
The real drama occurred elsewhere. Chelsea's day began badly and got worse before salvation came from Tottenham. They were without N'Golo Kante while when Edouard Mendy went off, it put his participation in the Champions League final in doubt.
Bertrand Traore put Villa ahead and Anwar El Ghazi made it 2-0 from the penalty spot before Ben Chilwell pulled a goal back and Cesar Azpilicueta was sent off.
Yet it mattered not for Chelsea. Jamie Vardy had scored only twice in 2021 but his two spot-kicks put Leicester ahead.
Harry Kane equalised once, to win the Golden Boot at Salah's expense and in perhaps his final game for Spurs, but Kasper Schmeichel's own goal, when he punched a corner into his own net, was followed by a Gareth Bale double.
The FA Cup winners are consigned to the Europa League.
