DESPITE A 2-1 win over West Ham, Leicester City were relegated from the Premier League, reports the Voice of Sport from King Power Stadium.
The game ended at the King Power first, and an agonising wait began for the result at Everton with players and fans motionless. In the end, however, Everton held on.
Seven years on from the footballing miracle which shook the world, and just two years after their FA Cup triumph, the Foxes’ Premier League journey is over.
Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City are the only two clubs to win the Premier League and be relegated.
In the 34th minute they were safe. In the 57th minute they were down. That is how quickly football changes.
West Ham fans taunted the home support early on in the match, “you’re going down, we’re going to Prague” echoed around the away end.
It took until the 24th minute for Leicester to register their first attempt on target when Harvey Barnes placed a tame shot from the edge of the box into the gloves of Lukasz Fabianski.
The chance turned nerves inside the ground into belief. The noise levels started to creep up as the home fans roared the players forward.
And in the 34th minute that roar sucked the ball into the net as Leicester climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time on the afternoon.
Barnes played a neat one-two to find space in the box, and whilst his strike ten minutes prior had been tame, this one was empathic as he slotted the ball past Fabianski.
An eruption of noise took the roof off the King Power and for the first time that afternoon, jubilant Foxes’ fans sang “we are staying up.”
Five minutes later another cheer broke out around the ground, but as journalists in the press box scrambled to check scores elsewhere, there was no sign of any goal at Goodison, which the Leicester supporters quickly realised.
However, in the 57th minute, there had been action at Goodison, which the travelling supporters kindly let those in blue know.
A deafening silence fell around the King Power. Everton had gone ahead against Bournemouth. Leicester were back in the bottom three.
Wout Faes did head home to double Leicester’s lead minutes after the Everton goal had gone in, but it changed nothing. Leicester needed a Bournemouth goal.
The Faes goal was even celebrated by West Ham fans who ironically joined in with the home support whilst singing “2-0 and you’re going down.”
Meanwhile, “Come on Bournemouth” reverberated around the home end. The Foxes had done all they could, their game was won.
Jamie Vardy came on to replace Kelechi Iheanacho with fifteen minutes to play as the Leicester legend made potentially his final ever appearance for the club in England’s top-flight.
David Moyes’ side pulled a goal back in the 78th minute through Pablo Fornals when the Spaniard cut inside and struck in off the post.
Despite the 2-1 win, Leicester’s fairy-tale journey is over.
A mixture of boos and applause came from the stands at a stunned King Power as the players made their way off the pitch after a Premier League fixture for one last time.
Comments Form