Premier Cup
The Premier Cup was a one-off football tournament held to mark the coronation of Queen Alexandra on 1 August 2019. Contested between sixteen football clubs, the tournament lasted for over four weeks, beginning on 18 May 2019 and ending on 30 May 2019.
Consisting of a total of sixteen clubs, in alphabetical order, the teams that competed in the tournament were:
- Arsenal
- Bohemian
- Cardiff City
- Celtic
- Chelsea
- Dundalk
- Hamburger SV
- Hannover 96
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Rangers
- SV Werder Bremen
- Shamrock Rovers
- Swansea City
- Tottenham Hotspur
In total, the tournament consisted of four stages, namely the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals, all of which are one-legged occasions. Meanwhile, the clubs that compete in the tournament are drawn against one another at random via a televised lucky draw, and their fixtures in the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals are played simultaneously. In the aftermath of the tournament, the finals were held at Wembley Stadium, London.
Similar to most football tournaments, penalty shootouts were used to break any potential deadlocks. Meanwhile, a player who has picked up two cumulative yellow cards or a red card is declared ineligible for the next match and must therefore wait out the suspension period before being allowed to return.
Venue
Draw
For the round of 16, the clubs competing in the tournament were randomly paired against each other via a lucky draw held on 14 May 2019. The results of the draw, which was televised live on multiple channels including BBC Sport, Sky Sports, and beIN Sports, are as follows:
- Tottenham Hotspur v Dundalk
- Bohemian v Manchester City
- Rangers v Arsenal
- Chelsea v Hannover 96
- Celtic v Hamburger SV
- Shamrock Rovers v Manchester United
- Liverpool v Swansea City
- SV Werder Bremen v Cardiff City
Round of 16
On 18 May 2019, the first four rounds of 16 matches took place. In this, Tottenham Hotspur kicked off the tournament with a comfortable 4-0 win over Dundalk, followed by Manchester City similarly defeating Bohemian 2-0. Meanwhile, the stage's biggest victory so far was seen in Arsenal's dominant 4-0 victory over Rangers with Chelsea also proving successful against their opponents in a 3-1 win over Hannover 96 whose striker Niclas Füllkrug provided the lone goal for his side in the 51st minute.
On 19 May 2019, the last four rounds of 16 matches took place. In this, a 20th-minute goal from Odsonne Édouard allowed Celtic to narrowly see off Hannover 96 while Manchester United's Ashley Young similarly scored the only goal in the match to give his side a 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers. Meanwhile, in a surprisingly tight contest, Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge scored a brace in the 101st minute to complement a goal from just a minute earlier by teammate Fabinho to mark a 3-1 win over Swansea City while lone goals from SV Werder Bremen's Milot Rashica and Cardiff City's Bruno Ecuele Manga respectively resulted in a penalty shootout that eventually ended in a 3-1 win for SV Werder Bremen.
Quarter-finals
On 21 May 2019, the first two quarter-final matches took place. In this, following an initial 76th-minute goal from Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City were ultimately eliminated by a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory from Tottenham Hotspur whose players Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura scored within two minutes of each other to help the club qualify for the semi-finals. Likewise, fellow Manchester side Manchester United were also eliminated by the London-based Chelsea whose midfielder Mateo Kovačić scored once and later assisted a goal from N'Golo Kanté in a 2-0 win.
On 22 May 2019, the last two quarter-final matches took place. In this, a brace from Fabinho and an additional goal from Sadio Mané saw Liverpool comfortably defeat SV Werder Bremen 3-1. Otherwise, in a dramatic and lengthy affair, Héctor Bellerín scored a last-minute 120th-minute corner for Arsenal, thereby narrowly avoiding a penalty shootout in a 1-0 win over Celtic whose defence held stubbornly throughout the entirety of the match in the face of twenty-six attempts, eleven of which were on target, by Arsenal.
Semi-Finals
On 26 May 2019, the two semi-final matches took place. In this, goals from longtime striker Harry Kane and defender Den Davies allowed Tottenham Hotspur to defeat Chelsea 2-0 while a lone goal from Sadio Mané saw Liverpool narrowly defeat Arsenal 1-0 in a close contest between the two sides in which Liverpool's victory meant the end of a potential North London derby in the finals between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
Final
On 30 May 2019, the final match took place at Wembley Stadium, London, between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. In this, following a series of unsuccessful attempts from Son Heung-min in finding a breakthrough, a 79th-minute goal from Dele Alli saw Tottenham Hotspur mark a 1-0 victory over Liverpool to win the tournament outright. However, in a brief moment of controversy, Serge Aurier, who came on as a substitute for Den Davies, was sent off late into the 94th minute although this did not ultimately affect the final outcome of the match.
Aftermath
With the tournament's conclusion, Liverpool's Fabinho finished as the tournament's top goalscorer with three goals while Tottenham Hotspur's Belgian defensive pair Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld shared the honour of being the tournament's top assisters with two assists each. Meanwhile, having only conceded once throughout the entirety of the tournament, namely in his side's 2-1 win over Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur's Hugo Lloris was named the tournament's best goalkeeper.