🔬 The Debrief as Liverpool-Man Utd and Fulham-Ipswich draw in thrillers | OneFootball

There might have just been two Premier League games today, but they delivered, and then some.

Here is what we made of it all.

What happened? 📝

📸 DARREN STAPLES - AFP or licensors

In Sunday's headline act, Liverpool and Manchester United played out an epic 2-2 draw at Anfield.

A game fitting of the occasion for a change, United kicked off a brilliant second half with the opener in the 52nd minute through Lisandro Martínez, who smashed home after a great through ball from Bruno Fernandes.

The league leaders rallied, Cody Gakpo equalising seven minutes later with a stunning cutback and finish past André Onana. Just over 10 minutes later, Mohamed Salah scored yet again against United, this time from the spot after Matthijs de Ligt handled the ball, who was also at fault for the first goal.

Ruben Amorim's men fought back, though, with Amad Diallo once again coming to the fore at a key moment with a neat finish past Alisson in the 80th minute to grab a deserved point for his side.

Earlier in the day, Fulham and Ipswich had an equally entertaining 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage. Sammy Szmodics gave the Tractor Boys a half-time lead, but like at Anfield, things really picked up after the break, with three goals, all of which came from the penalty spot.

Raúl Jiménez got the first of his two in the 69th minute, but just 21 seconds of in-game play later, Liam Delap was fouled by Timothy Castange, before smashing past Bernd Leno from 12 yards out.

Just when Kieran McKenna's side were on the verge of moving out of the relegation zone, Jiménez scored again from the spot in added time to seal a point.

Player of the day 🔥

📸 Clive Rose - 2025 Getty Images

Manchester United put in arguably their best performance of the early stages of the Ruben Amorim era at Anfield, and Bruno Fernandes led from the front with a captain's performance.

It was much-needed after his recent dismissal at Wolves and several subpar showings under his countryman, and it looked like Fernandes knew that.

He was everywhere from the first minute, winning tackles and fouls, dropping deep to pick up the ball and pushing on when required.

His standout moment was a brilliant assist for Martínez. After Trent Alexander-Arnold summed up his afternoon by passing the ball to the United skipper, he made him pay, dribbling inside before slipping in the Argentine defender, whose finish was worthy of the assist.

This now needs to both be the standard and norm for Fernandes and United, which he touched on in his post-match comments.

Stat of the day 📊

Every week, it feels like there's a new Salah stat, and this one is special.

What this means 🤔

Arsenal fans will be breathing a huge sigh of relief after today's result at Anfield, with their draw at Brighton on Saturday being somewhat remedied by Liverpool being held by United.

The Reds are still in a very healthy position, sitting six points clear at the top with a game in hand.

United's point moves them past West Ham, and into 13th on goal difference, seven points clear of the relegation zone, and needs to act as a springboard for the rest of the season.

Ipswich remain in that final relegation spot, but are now only behind Wolves on goal difference. As for Fulham, they remain in ninth, having missed the chance to leapfrog Aston Villa.

What they said 🗣

📸 DARREN STAPLES - AFP or licensors

Despite a strong point at Anfield, Ruben Amorim was displeased that his side have been unable to produce in so-called smaller games.

"That should be a big issue for our players that even one person thinks you have the ability but not the character, we have to fight that and change that."

"I think it is really clear. When we are focused, when we fight for every ball, when we suffer and we are tired when the game is finished, we are a good team."

Virgil van Dijk denied Liverpool underestimated United today, but was somewhat relived to get a point after a relatively poor performance.

“That’s all the media. Media talk. It’s nothing to do with us. We prepared for a very tough game like we have seen today. We didn’t think any of that,”

“It could have been a lot worse if we are absolutely honest with ourselves"

Marco Silva was frustrated with his Fulham side's inability to make more of their dominance in possession against Ipswich.

"Second half, we changed. We made another mistake which gave them another penalty. If we keep doing this then it is more difficult to win matches.

"We should have won the game because we did more than them. When on front foot, we should have killed them in the right way."

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna remained level-headed after being denied a win late on.

"When you lead twice, you always feel a little bit disappointed not to win. I'm so proud of the way we played. We had some chances to get a two-goal margin but we weren't able to take them."

What's next? 👀

Monday night sees Nottingham Forest look to go level on points with Arsenal at Wolves, who will aim to move clear of the relegation zone with another win under Vitor Pereira.

After that, it's FA Cup third round time, with Arsenal vs Manchester United the pick of the ties.

📸 Carl Recine - 2025 Getty Images