Best rescue, party and more!

Football writer Adrian Kajumba looks at the standout players and moments from Matchweek 12.

Best save – André Onana

The new head coach of Manchester United Reuben Amorim was indebted to his goalkeeper as he began his reign with the small reward of a point conceded Ipswich town.

André Onana produced two point-blank range saves to deny Liam Delap either side of the half-time on Portman Road.

The first stop in particular was breathtaking, made with an outstretched arm when Delap seemed certain to score.

To see: Onana’s great save in the first half against Delap

“That’s the saving grace of the season. Unbelievable,” he said Air sports expert Jamie Redknapp.

Onana made a total of five saves against Ipswich, taking his goal prevention tally for the season to a league-leading 4.50.

This underlines Onana’s role in Man United’s overall defensive improvement; last season he came fourth in that category with 2.81.

After conceding a club record 58 Premier League goals in the 2023/2024 season, Man Utd’s goals conceded per match (from 1.5 to 1.1) and shots per match (from 17.6 to 11.2) both decreased this season.

And although he was beaten by Omari HutchinsonAfter the deflected equalizer for Ipswich, the improvement is also evident from the fact that Onana is still in the lead in the race for the Golden Glove prize this season with five nil.

How Onana scores

Season	Goals conceded/match	PL rank	Shots faced/match	PL rank
2023/24	1.5	= 5th	17.6	19th
2024/25	1.1	= 4th	11.2	4th

Best performance – Man City 0-4 Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur are no strangers to making the best of it Pep Guardiola but never before have they done so in such an emphatic way.

Thanks to a truly stunning performance and result against Manchester citySpurs suffered the biggest home defeat of Guardiola’s managerial career.

Spurs also now have the most wins of any team against him, with nine.

Man City vs Spurs Highlights

Ange Postecoglou is responsible for two of those triumphs with Saturday’s success following an EFL Cup win in October.

And, not for the first time, the Spurs head coach’s methods were vindicated at Manchester City.

A year ago, Spurs were rewarded for a brave display when they rescued a late 3-3 draw.

This time, Postecoglou’s side were a constant threat on the counter-attack, creating six fast breaks in the Premier League, resulting in four shots and two goals.

Postecoglou also moved Dejan Kulusevski out wide and called back James Maddison – and witnessed inspired performances from both.

Kulusevski scored the first goal and was involved in the third, while Maddison scored twice.

Two replacements for Postecoglou, Timo Werner And Brennan Johnsonthen came off the bench to seal a remarkable score, as they combined for the fourth goal.

Best touch – Matheus Cunha

Matheus Cunha combines class with graft to lead Wolverhampton Wanderersrevival.

A second successive Premier League victory was secured Fulham where Cunha impressed with his work in both attack and defense, securing an excellent 4-1 win.

His attacking masterclass at Fulham started with a first touch that earned him plenty of plaudits.

Cunha’s great ball against Fulham

‘It reminds me of (Dennis) Bergkamp in the past,” said the former Dutchman Arsenal teammate Emmanuel Kleinwhen he praised Cunha’s control for his first goal at Craven Cottage.

That was a highlight of a performance from Cunha that also included a stunning second goal and an assist in Wolves’ victory.

With seven goals and three assists, the Brazilian has been directly involved in 50 percent of Wolves’ Premier League goals this season – 10 out of 20 – the eighth highest percentage among all Premier League players.

Just as nice for his head coach Gary O’Neil Cunha’s contributions were also off the ball.

His performance for Fulham also included two interceptions – his highest tally of the season – while he won possession on five occasions, including twice in the final third. Both figures are joint highlights for this campaign.

“It was his best performance without the ball today,” O’Neil said. “He was excellent.”

Players most committed to their team’s PL goals in 2024/2025

Player	Goals + Assists	Team goals	% Team Goals
Salah (LIV)	16	24	66.7%
McNeil (EVE)	6	10	60.0%
Saka (ARS)	12	21	57.1%
Haaland (MCI)	12	22	54.5%
Delap (IPS)	7	13	53.8%
Wood (NFO)	8	15	53.3%
Palmer (CHE)	12	23	52.2%
Cunha (WOL)	10	20	50.0%

Best Partnership – Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka

Arsenal may have a tough task ahead of them in bringing in leaders Liverpoolwhom they are nine points behind.

But have Martin Odegaard And Bukayo Saka back in tandem is a source of encouragement for the manager Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal ended their four-match winless Premier League run with a convincing win 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest which was decorated by the collaboration between Odegaard and Saka.

Odegaard set up Saka’s deadlock-breaking goal with a typically clever pass before the winger himself added an assist for Thomas Partey.

Odegaard and Saka join forces to found Partey

And it was striking how often Odegaard and Saka looked for each other all the time Nott’m Bos, in a clear sign of their chemistry.

They combined 36 times during the match, the second-highest number of passes between two players, excluding defenders, in a Premier League match this season.

Unsurprisingly, Arsenal’s creativity suffered during the injury-induced two-month absence of captain Odegaard.

But now that they have their two main creators back together, eliminating the need to rely on just one player to open up the opposition’s defence, they have hope.

“If you put them together in the right spaces, things blossom and things happen naturally,” Arteta said. “We’re very happy to have those two.”

Most passes between players in PL match 24/25*

Player combination	Opponent	Passes between
Ramsey / Tielemans (AVL)	EVE	37
Barkley / Tielemans (AVL)	EVE	37
Saka/Odegaard (ARS)	NFO	36
Eze/Mitchell (CRY)	LEI	31
Smith Rowe / Nelson (FULL)	BRE	30
Szoboszlai / Ryan Gravenberch	BRE	29
Jones/Gravenberch (LIV)	WOULD	29
Palmer/Madueke (CHE)	NFO	28
Smith Rowe / Nelson (FULL)	SCREAM	28
Guimaraes / Joelinton (NEW)	BOU	27

* excluding defenders

Best assist – Joao Pedro

“I know (Kaoru) Mitoma very well, so I knew he would move into this space,” he said João Pedro, explaining why he could combine so brilliantly with the winger Brighton & Hove Albion‘s winning goal AFC Bournemouth.

Pedro managed to spot Mitoma’s run and find him by making a sublime pass through the smallest gap between three Cherries defenders.

There was also a no-look element to Pedro’s pass, which would have helped him deceive Bournemouth’s defenders.

Joao Pedro’s assist for Mitoma

Pedro’s exceptional assist came after he also opened the scoring Fabian Hurzeler‘s side at the Vitality Stadium.

And after scoring and assisting in the outstanding Brighton match 2-1 win over Manchester City Before the international break, Pedro became the first Seagulls player to score and assist in consecutive Premier League appearances.

Best party – Mohamed Salah

Southampton fans may have gotten an unwanted sense of deja vu Mohammed Salah drove away after his match-winning penalty Liverpool’s 3-2 win at St Mary’s.

Just like in the Red 3-1 win against the Saints in April 2019Salah scored a win and celebrated by throwing his shirt in the air to show the home fans his abs again.

Salah’s celebrations in Southampton 2019 and 2024

He seemed particularly keen on this occasion to ensure his physique was also on full display, as he remembered having to rearrange his shorts mid-celebration.

Salah knew what would happen next: a booking for taking off his shirt. But that’s nothing new: five of his 10 yellow cards in the Premier League were for excessive celebrations.

His physical condition wasn’t the only thing the Egyptian wanted to remind the watching world of; he also made a point of telling us again that his Liverpool contract expires at the end of the season.

“I haven’t had any offers to stay at the club, so I’m probably outside more than inside,” Salah told reporters after the match.