Chelsea squeezed into the top four spots despite losing 2-1 at Aston Villa, helped by London rivals Tottenham, who beat Leicester on a dramatic final day.
Chelsea jumped in and out of the Champions League places over a topsy-turvy 90 minutes at Villa Park, despite being haunted by their former player Bertrand Traore on Sunday.
The Blues dominated the early stages as they camped in Villa’s defensive third, but the hosts eventually took the sting out and went ahead through former Chelsea man Bertrand Traore’s near-post effort from a low, well-worked corner.
It went from bad to worse for Chelsea when Edouard Mendy was injured, making him a doubt for next Saturday’s Champions League final with Manchester City.
With Leicester and Liverpool also winning at the time, Chelsea were already fifth by the time Anwar El Ghazi converted a penalty to make it 2-0 after Traore had been tripped by Jorginho.
Ben Chilwell clawed one back for Chelsea with a far-post finish in the 70th minute, but Tottenham equalised at Leicester to move Chelsea back into fourth, and then took the lead to cement their spot, eventually winning 4-2.
Chelsea finished the game with 10 men after captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s straight red card for a foul on Jack Grealish, but Leicester’s home defeat by Tottenham means Tuchel’s side finish the season in fourth on 67 points – one more than fifth-placed Leicester.
