The next day, all the sports newspapers in England were filled with news about the Premier League's closing matches.
In the upper half of the table, since most of the positions were already decided, the focus was mainly on the battle for fourth and fifth place between Liverpool and Arsenal.
In the end, Liverpool decisively defeated bottom-placed Middlesbrough 3-0, snatching fourth place from Arsenal.
In the lower half, the focus was naturally on the two matches: Sunderland vs. Watford, and Swansea vs. West Bromwich Albion.
Besides marveling at Swansea's miraculous survival, securing their Premier League status by scoring a last-minute winner against West Bromwich Albion, the media also praised Sunderland's performance.
"Zhao Zhao delivered on his promise, suppressing Watford with fierce attacks from the start and achieving a four-goal victory, dispelling all talk of a fixed match from the outset."
"Sunderland firmly held their destiny in their own hands. In contrast, Watford entered a state of anxiety and indecision from the moment they conceded in the first half."
"Their Coach Mazzarri even spent most of the second half looking at his phone, clearly monitoring the results of another match. With such a mental state, how could they not lose?"
"With a Sunderland like this, there's every reason to have high expectations for their performance next season! Rumor has it that team chairman Short has promised a transfer budget of over 50 million Euros; it's up to Coach Zhao how he spends this money!"
"After failing to avoid relegation, Watford's Coach Mazzarri has announced he will not Coach the team next season…"
In addition, the media also reviewed this season's Premier League.
Overall, the Premier League remained the stage for the strongest BIG6 teams, and they successfully occupied the top six positions.
Among them, Conte's Chelsea showed excellent balance between offense and defense, and thus the media continues to be optimistic about their performance next season.
Furthermore, Guardiola's Manchester City is also believed to be gradually finding their form.
With strong financial backing, Guardiola, after recruiting players in the summer transfer window, is confident he can assemble a squad that better suits his needs, thereby challenging for the championship.
In fact, it is said that Guardiola is already interested in several strong players and has initiated preliminary contact.
These include Bernardo Silva from Monaco, Ederson from Benfica, Kyle Walker from Tottenham, Laporte from Athletic Bilbao, and so on.
Of course, Mourinho's Manchester United will not be content to fall behind; they will also wave their checkbooks to bring in the good players Mourinho fancies, and at the same time, challenge for various championships.
Klopp's Liverpool is the same!
It can be said that the competition in the Premier League next season will be unprecedentedly fierce!
Among the mid-table teams, Everton, Southampton, and West Ham United performed relatively stably, but it will likely still be difficult for them to pose a substantial challenge to the BIG6.
As for the teams at the bottom, the most eye-catching, of course, was Sunderland.
Their record of seven wins in eight matches in the final stage of the season, and the points earned during that period, put them tied for first with champions Chelsea!
On a personal level, first up is the Team of the Year.
Chelsea, who topped the table, and Tottenham, who finished second, were the biggest winners, with four players from each team making the cut; the remaining three spots were taken by Manchester United, Liverpool, and Everton.
The specific list is as follows:
Goalkeeper: De Gea (Manchester United)
Defenders: Walker (Tottenham), Cahill (Chelsea), David Luiz (Chelsea), Rose (Tottenham)
Midfielders: Hazard (Chelsea), Kante (Chelsea), Alli (Tottenham), Mane (Liverpool)
Forwards: Lukaku (Everton), Kane (Tottenham)
The 2016-17 Premier League Player of the Season was awarded to Kante of Chelsea.
The Best Young Player award was won by Tottenham's rising star Alli for the second consecutive year.
The Best Goalkeeper was, of course, De Gea.
The top scorer was Harry Kane of Tottenham, who scored 29 goals in one season! (Although he still couldn't help Tottenham win the championship).
Behind him were Lukaku with 25 goals, Alexis Sánchez with 24 goals, and then Diego Costa, Aguero, and Defoe, all with 20 goals!
Among them, the most noteworthy is certainly Defoe of Sunderland.
He, along with Sunderland, burst forth in the final stage of the season, scoring nine goals in eight appearances (though only playing six times), which can be said to be a second spring in his career.
He was also selected for the latest England National Team squad, and might even have a chance to participate in the 2018 Russia World Cup!
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Today, the city of Sunderland was exceptionally lively.
Although it was just a successful relegation battle, and not a formal celebration like those held by championship-winning teams, the citizens of Sunderland still took to the streets to share their joy with their friends and family.
And the most bustling place, naturally, was around the Stadium of Light.
Although Sunderland is just a weak Premier League team, the capacity of the Stadium of Light ranks eighth in England, and those ahead of it are all major British cities.
For this small city with only 200,000 residents, the Stadium of Light is definitely a landmark building here, not to mention that today is also a day of celebration for the team.
The number of people here was surprisingly not much different from a match day!
Everyone was wearing Sunderland's traditional red and white striped shirts, cheering and singing in various corners around the stadium.
Why is this stadium called the Stadium of Light?
It contains two meanings: one is to commemorate the outstanding contributions of coal miners to this city, because almost every Sunderland native has an intricate connection with coal mining, and coal mining also allowed a small fishing village to gradually develop into its current size;
The other reason is that 'light' also has the meaning of guiding the future, and the Davy lamp outside the stadium is a symbol of this meaning.
This also indicates that Sunderland's fans are basically from the working class, and their love for the team is pure and passionate.
They came here today to express their excitement and their love for the team!
And when some fans arrived at the statue of former Sunderland's famous Coach Bob Stokoe at the southeast corner outside the stadium, they also found a pleasant surprise.
That was Coach Zhao was there too!
Suddenly, the crowd erupted, and everyone gathered around.
"Zhao Zhao! Well done!"
"Thank you! Coach Zhao!"
"Zhao Zhao! You're the best! We love you! Mwah!"
Coach Zhao also smiled and constantly waved to the fans.
Actually, he came here today to meet up with the girl who slipped him the note yesterday…
Yes, he can resist everything, but not temptation!
So he specifically chose the less crowded southeast corner of the stadium, planning to have a coffee at the Black Cat House first.
Mainly, he considered that the season was over, and the players and coaches had been dismissed for vacation, so theoretically there shouldn't be many people around the stadium.
But he didn't expect Sunderland fans to spontaneously come here to celebrate avoiding relegation today; he was careless and didn't anticipate it.
Fortunately, these fans were still sensible and didn't rush forward directly, otherwise Coach Zhao might have been squashed.
Then an old fan pointed to the statue of Bob Stokoe and said to Coach Zhao: "Coach Zhao, I think as long as you stay in Sunderland, you will definitely surpass his achievements! And when that happens, we will definitely erect a statue for you outside the stadium too!"
Coach Zhao smiled and said, "Thank you, I will work hard."
Unlike other big teams, Sunderland's condition for erecting a statue might truly be a bit "shabby."
Take Bob Stokoe, for example; the most glorious achievement of his coaching career was leading Sunderland, then in the second-tier League, to victory over the then invincible Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup final at Wembley, winning the championship!
And that was it.
And that FA Cup title from 44 years ago was also Sunderland's most recent major competition championship to date…
"Coach, will you stay with us?" asked a child wearing a Sunderland jersey.
Coach Zhao stroked his head and replied firmly, "Yes. I will not leave Sunderland until I achieve success!"
As soon as he said this, the fans immediately cheered.
The slight worry they had in their hearts had now vanished without a trace.
After all, they were really afraid that such a good Coach, whom they had so painstakingly "found," would be snatched away by another team!
Now that they had Coach Zhao's assurance, everyone was naturally happy.
Someone, it's not clear who, suddenly shouted: "My heart will always follow Zhao Zhao!"
Everyone else also started shouting:
"My heart will always follow Zhao Zhao!"
"My heart will always follow Zhao Zhao!"
"My heart will always follow Zhao Zhao!"
...