West Ham United Under-21s have managed to avoid relegation from Premier League 2 Division 1 despite losing 1-0 against Tottenham Hotspur.
The young Hammers headed into the game 11th in the 14-team league in which the bottom two sides are relegated to Division 2 of PL2. Leicester City had already been relegated, but the final spot had yet to be decided with West Ham and Spurs among three teams at risk of going down.
Wolverhampton Wanderers in 12th had already played all of their 26 fixtures, but barring an extremely unlikely outcome, were already safe with Spurs and West Ham to battle it out on the final day, with Tottenham three points adrift of safety and needing to win by three goals to relegate West Ham.
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Lucas Moura was among those involved for Spurs U21s and it took the north London side eight minutes to get off the mark, with Jamie Donley heading in Romaine Mundle’s cross. Despite taking an early lead, Tottenham could not add to their tally and would up being relegated on goal difference, ending the season on -12, whilst Wolves and West Ham finished on -11 and -10 respectively, but both having scored more goals than Spurs.
West Ham now know of 12 of the 13 opponents they will face next season, with Southampton earning promotion after finishing top of Premier League 2 Division 2. Teams finishing second to fifth head into a play-off for the final promotion spot, with Leeds United facing Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest up against West Bromwich Albion in the semi-finals.
The 12 teams West Ham know they will face in Premier League 2 Division 1 next season are:
Manchester City (champions), Liverpool, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Brighton, Arsenal, Everton, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Wolves and Southampton.
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