Week 12 has been eye-opening to Premier League fans, as Manchester City continued to slide, Liverpool found a way to thrive, and Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim finally made his debut for the legendary club.
It was a wild week of action that even took the job of one PL boss, as we saw a (pretty surprising) managerial move from a relegation-threatened side.
[ MORE: What we learned from Amorim’s Man United debut ]
There’s still a big game to go, with Newcastle United capable of going sixth if they can beat visiting West Ham United on Monday afternoon (Watch live at 3pm ET on USA Network, streaming online via NBC.com).
Here are 10 thoughts about Week 12 (so far) from our writers, as Joe Prince-Wright, Andy Edwards, and Nick Mendola share their observations from the latest nine games of the 2024-25 Premier League season.
10 things we learned from Week 12 of the 2024-25 Premier League season
Mohamed Salah saves the day for sloppy Liverpool
The game after an international break is always tricky for the big boys and this trip to St Mary’s proved just that for Liverpool. They were caught on the counter, looked sloppy in large spells either side of half time, and were dragged into a scrap in the wind and rain. But they got the job done. Just. Like Liverpool, it took Mohamed Salah a long time to get into full flow. He now has 10 goals and six assists so far this season as Arne Slot’s side needed their main man to rescue them when they were 2-1 down with just over 25 minutes to go. Sure, Liverpool had dominated play and were creating chances and forcing Southampton into making big mistakes defensively. But it looked like they might suffer a shock defeat until Salah made the most of a seemingly straightforward ball over the top to masterfully prod it past the onrushing and out-of-position Alex McCarthy. The Egyptian winger kept his cool to slam home the winner from the penalty spot and smashed the post late on as he chased a hat trick. Salah was the difference. He usually is and his heroics set up a huge home game at Anfield against Man City next Sunday. The advantage in the title race is Liverpool’s and Salah is the ace up their sleeve. His contract negotiations are getting easier for his advisors by the minute. — Joe Prince-Wright
Odegaard-Saka reunion serves up joy for both Arsenal stars
Bukayo Saka has been fantastic this season and boasts a Premier League-leading eighth assist following this win over the Tricky Trees, but the freedom he has when opposing back lines have to respect Martin Odegaard leads the English winger to rarefied air. Speaking after the game, Mikel Arteta clearly saw the same thing. Arsenal have not lost when Odegaard plays more than a minute this season, and it’s fun to remind Gunners supporters that he’s still 25 for a few more weeks while Saka is barely 23 years old. Both players are world class, and Saka is playing at a Ballon d’Or caliber. If Arsenal can win something this season, maybe he gets that nod? — Nick Mendola
Clinical Spurs ruin City’s bounce back bid
Manchester City 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur
- Flustered Pep Guardiola reacts to losing streak
- James Maddison speaks after show-stopping first half leads upset
Let’s get this out of the way — This wasn’t a four-nil game in the sense that City produced a host of chances and might have scored twice in the first 15 minutes. But an uneven Erling Haaland and pals couldn’t make the most of those chances, while James Maddison and Spurs scored both of theirs and that meant this slumping Man City side had more pressure on their shoulders. City came out of the traps in fine feather and showed the energy and resilience of champions. The one thing that could hurt that vibe was going down a goal. Two goals? Oh, the deficit seemed an anchor at times. City will improve with healthy — Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Nathan Ake, and Jack Grealish all weren’t fit enough for a full game as Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, and Ruben Dias joined Rodri on the shelf — but will they it together in time for Liverpool next weekend? — Nick Mendola
Bruno Fernandes looms large as attacking patterns provide best glimpse of Amorim’s plan
Ipswich Town 1-1 Manchester United
Late in the first half at Portman Road, we saw a long, lofted ball from Casemiro as he sought a rampaging Red Devils attacker over the top of the Ipswich back line. That attacker? Diogo Dalot, who was playing left center back in the back three. Amorim may well be able to deliver a high-octane, elite-talent version of what Chris Wilder did with Sheffield United and — to a less direct extent — what Ange Postecoglou wants to do at Spurs. Amad Diallo as a wing back with a true center back behind him worked well and provides hope to United’s wide players who might’ve expected to be squeezed out by what happens atop a back three. The set-up, however, did showcase how effective Bruno Fernandes can be with safety behind him and numbers out wide and in front of him. The captain, like Casemiro, often keyed the locks to Ipswich’s back line. He has to be feeling good about his potential under countryman Amorim. — Nick Mendola
Chelsea’s defense holding them back from title contention
Midfield and attack are stacked and fluid for Chelsea; The only things holding them back are defensive lapses of concentration. They have kept just two clean sheets in 12 games this season. Chelsea wasted some big chances at Leicester and it was almost too easy for the youngsters. Each game they seem to give up a flurry of big chances in a five-minute spell and that arrived just before half time in this game. They were then sloppy. They gave away a late penalty and could have given another away before that. Enzo Maresca’s side were wonderful in attack with Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke, and Nicolas Jackson getting better individually and as a collective each week. But at the back there is just enough unease to make a dominant performance like this uncomfortable for a few spells. Defensively they have to improve and that is the only thing holding Chelsea back from being a genuine title contender this season. They are well ahead of where we all thought they would be this season. — Joe Prince-Wright
That certainly didn’t look like Brighton
Bournemouth 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
A victory at Bournemouth is a decent result, and this one moves Brighton (5th place - 22 points) up one spot in the Premier League table after 12 games. That’s four wins in six PL games for Brighton, who didn’t win a single game in September and looked to be struggling early in Fabian Hurzeler’s tenure. That is no longer the case after back-to-back wins over Manchester City and Bournemouth (13th - 15 points), the latter of which also beat Man City in recent weeks. That’s two hugely impressive victories to set the Seagulls on the right path again. — Andy Edwards
Worrying defending continues as Villa should return to counterattack
Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace
Aston Villa’s dramatic rise under Unai Emery has been built on a solid defensive foundation, organization, and high-pressing to unsettle opponents. The problem is, opponents now know how to counteract most of those tactics. Aston Villa’s defensive high-line was ripped apart on multiple occasions by counter-attacking kings Crystal Palace on Saturday and Villa could have no complaints had they lost this game. Yes, they’re missing Ezri Konsa, Boubacar Kamara, and Andre Onana through injury in midfield and defense and the full back duo of Matty Cash and Lucas Digne were rested with one eye on Juventus in midweek, but it’s Villa’s system rather than personnel that needs a tweak. They press so high up the pitch but right now they lack energy and cohesion and Emery should return to a more counter-attacking approach which saw Villa excel during his initial six months in charge. Emery often tweaks his tactics within his general playing philosophy and he knows Villa just can’t be this open on the counter defensively. They’ve conceded eight goals in their last three games and if they want to qualify for the Champions League again they have to be more compact at the back. — Joe Prince-Wright
Brentford should tie down world-class Thomas Frank
Yes, the headline-writer knows that Frank has a deal with the Bees through the 2026-27 season and that’s ages away in the managerial world, but maybe they should literally find rope and keep his agent from being able to speak with any other teams. The Dane is that good, and matches like this 10-man scoreless draw flash a part of his magnificent managerial acumen we don’t always get to see from him. The Brentford boss knows how to make adjustments in attack, and multi-goal games are old hat for the Bees on Frank’s watch, but to see the relative calm and control from his side while down a man for more than 45 minutes is special. Everton are far from robust in attack under Sean Dyche, but it’s remarkable that Frank’s set-up held the Toffees to just 0.73 xG in the second half. Really good performance. Elite boss. — Nick Mendola
Wolves’ next big (outgoing?) star
Matheus Cunha was the star against Southampton in Week 11 and he was the star again against Fulham, taking his season tally to seven goals, three assists. If not in January, a handful of Champions League clubs should be after the 25-year-old Brazilian next summer. Just take a look at his FBRef page, (below, abbreviated) and you’ll see not only a player who is leading Wolves’ attack in a big way, but also a well-rounded player who puts in a shift defensively, holds the ball up pretty well, carries it very well and gets others involved. As the game gets more and more position-less, players like Cunha are going to command extraordinary transfer fees. — Andy Edwards
Much more to come from Ruben Amorim at Manchester United
Ipswich Town 1-1 Manchester United
For everything this match taught us about Ruben Amorim — and we learned plenty — the biggest certainty is that we should not dwell much on who played, how long they played, and maybe even where they played at Portman Road. Amorim looked like a man who was taking in a wealth of information and deciding what to process and what to save for the film. Alejandro Garnacho is electric but also young. He looked immature and cost his team chances, but he was also in position to make those chances happen. How does Amorim read that? Casemiro sprayed the ball around the park and helped Bruno Fernandes unlock the Ipswich back line, but Manuel Ugarte was coming back from international break and Kobbie Mainoo from injury so who knows where the Brazilian fits into Amorim’s plans. All five players who subbed into the game — Joshua Zirkzee, Ugarte, Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund, and Luke Shaw — could easily become regular starters, and Leny Yoro, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, and Harry Maguire were all absent through injury or fitness. There were moments that United delivered a glimpse of the future, as Amorim promised before the game, but mostly there’s so so so so so much work to be done at Old Trafford. — Nick Mendola
