Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) scored twice to send Liverpool eight points clear at the top of the table on Sunday, before Ruben Amorim led Manchester United to a 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town.
The key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from these two matches are covered in this article.
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AMORIM: “WE HAVE A LOT TO IMPROVE”
The start of the Ruben Amorim era ended in a draw at Portman Road.
United scored after just 81 seconds, when Amad Diallo (£4.9m) raced away down the right flank, before crossing low for Marcus Rashford (£6.9m) to tap home.
They failed to build on that promising start, however, and fell away, with central midfield pairing Casemiro (£4.8m) and Christian Eriksen (£5.4m) often second best.
“They tried to do it, that’s the main point. We have a lot to improve, but they tried. This is the first point; the most important point. They were thinking too much during the game, trying to cope with everything we said during training. But it was [just] two trainings. We could win this game, but also Onana did great saves. It’s always tough to play in this league and we will improve in the future.” – Ruben Amorim
United adopted a 3-4-2-1 formation as expected, with Noussair Mazraoui (£4.6m) at right centre-back, Amad at right wing-back and Rashford as the central striker.
Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) and Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) were deployed as the two 10s.
Above: Man Utd’s average positions in Gameweek 12, including Fernandes (8), Rashford (10) and Garnacho (17).
Amad stood out, registering two shots and two key passes, whilst earning the praise of Amorim after full-time (see below).
As for Fernandes, he came close with a free-kick and registered three shots, but was on the fringes for large parts.
In fact, he touched the ball just 34 times in the opponent’s half, his third-lowest tally in a match this season.
“I think he was very good. [In] these three days he has improved so much defensively. But also, the opponent that he had all the time was the left-back. So, it is like a winger that follows the left-back. It is so much easier, I think, because he doesn’t have to think: ‘Can I jump in the centre-back?’ He just follows his man and goes back with the same man. It is like man-to-man in that aspect. I think he was so focused on everything. I think he did a great job.” – Ruben Amorim on Amad Diallo
IPSWICH UP AND RUNNING
It’s been a decent couple of games for Ipswich, with four points taken from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
Here, they comfortably won on expected goals (xG) by 1.75 to 0.90.
The impressive Liam Delap (£5.6m) was twice thwarted by excellent saves, but Omari Hutchinson (£5.2m) fared better, finding the net to earn a share of the bonus points.
He’s growing into his role in the Premier League, with nine shots and seven key passes in his last four games.
“He was a big threat first half. He’s more naturally a winger but we feel the space was in the middle of the pitch. He can be a big threat and he’s improving.” – Kieran McKenna on Omari Hutchinson
Overall, this was a really solid Ipswich display, with a pretty decent run of fixtures coming up for the Tractor Boys.
SALAH SCORES TWICE
Mohamed Salah continued his relentless start to the season at St Mary’s, scoring twice in a hard-fought win for Liverpool.
Captained by 3.5m FPL managers, Salah was on the periphery for large parts but, in the end, was unlucky not to score a hat-trick, missing a handful of decent chances in the first half, before hitting the post late on.
Overall, he registered seven shots, five (!) big chances and 14 penalty box touches.
The only blemish was a booking for taking off his shirt while celebrating.
“That is what special players do, they can score out of nowhere. Mo is known for the timing of his runs, he finds the right moment and scores the goal.” – Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah’s first goal
It’s fair to say Liverpool weren’t at their fluent best on the south coast but they got the job done, helped by some generous Southampton defending.
Arne Slot made three changes to his starting XI, choosing to bench South American duo Alexis Mac Allister (£6.2m) and Luis Diaz (£7.7m).
Conor Bradley (£4.7m) also came in at right-back, replacing the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold (£6.9m).
Discussing his team selection, the Dutch tactician said:
“It has nothing to do with the Nottingham Forest game [which followed the first internartional break of 2024/25] but it does affect the team and player you pick whether they played three or four days ago. It’s not only about them playing in South America but it’s one of the reasons.” – Arne Slot on team selection
Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.3m) scored the opener for Liverpool, arrowing a lovely strike into the far corner, and was undoubtedly one of the Reds standout players.
Next up: Real Madrid and Manchester City.
SOUTHAMPTON ERRORS
Southampton made life difficult for Liverpool, with Russell Martin putting out the “… most attacking team possible.”
Central midfielder Flynn Downes (£4.8m), for example, lined up in the middle of the back three.
Further forward, Tyler Dibling (£4.5m) was lively.
He won the penalty for Adam Armstrong (£5.1m), who was only able to tuck in the rebound, and was heavily involved in the second.
“Tyler is a really great young player who needs to play at the right place. His ceiling is so high and he can play where he wants in the future.” – Russell Martin on Tyler Dibling
However, it was a catalogue of errors that led to Liverpool’s goals, with Alex McCarthy (£4.3m) – who stepped in for the injured Aaron Ramsdale (£4.4m) – particularly poor.
Architects of their downfall, Southampton have made eight errors directly leading to goals in the Premier League this season, at least three more than any other side:
It doesn’t get any easier, either, with games against Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur coming up.
