Ipswich vs Manchester United LIVE: Premier League result and final score from Ruben Amorim’s first game

Ruben Amorim had to settle for a point on his debut as Manchester United head coach after Omari Hutchinson cancelled out Marcus Rashford’s second-minute opener in an end-to-end 1-1 Premier Leaguedraw at Ipswich.

Amorim had dubbed himself ‘the smiling one’ on Friday but was motionless when Rashford tapped home after 81 seconds following excellent play by Amad Diallo, who was used at right wing-back.

Newly-promoted Town, buoyed by a first league win of the season at Tottenham a fortnight ago, responded with aplomb and levelled after 43 minutes through Hutchinson’s deflected left-footed strike.

Steve Cooper has been stunningly sacked by Leicester City, with the club lying 16th in the Premier League table.

Cooper had only been in charge since the summer, replacing Enzo Maresca when he left for Chelsea after guiding the Foxes back to the top flight.

Welshman Cooper leaves Leicester two points above the drop zone, having secured just two league wins all season, although they are faring better than Ipswich and Southampton who also came up from the Championship with them.

In typically unconvincing fashion, Chelsea march on, thanks to the striker who is now, nestled nicely in Erling Haaland’s slipstream, perhaps the Premier League’s second-most-effective marksman.

The social media ridicule in the end became a difficult watch. Glaring misses in big games – the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City a particularly profligate afternoon – saw Nicolas Jackson chastised by fans young and old, even his own, in a distasteful manner you only get from the brave souls sat behind their computer keyboards at home.

Only Haaland and another social media class clown, Darwin Nunez, missed more big chances than Jackson last season, leading to calls for the Senegal striker to be a makeweight for further incomings as Enzo Maresca shuffled his Chelsea pack in the summer transfer window.

The Emirates rose to its feet as soon as it became clear Martin Odegaardwould be departing. As all sides stood to applaud Arsenal’s best display in weeks, there was recognition too of the wondrous touches and effortless shimmies that had defined a game. Amid the brilliance from Odegaard,  Arsenal realised it is the simple things only he can do that they had missed the most. “When he’s in the team, you can sense something that is different,” said Mikel Arteta. “It’s difficult to put a finger on it, but it’s different.”

Nottingham Forest, who had beaten Liverpool and drawn at Chelsea to arrive at the Emirates level on points with Arsenal, looked second-best throughout and were dismissed 3-0. Arsenal were revitalised with their heartbeat restored, winning in the Premier League for the first time in five games. There was further reason to celebrate as Odegaard marked his first home appearance since August with a dazzling display. After a difficult, “nightmare” autumn that threatened to derail Arsenal’s title challenge, Odegaard helped restore the feelgood factor despite the bite of winter in the air.

And yet the match-winner, leading the way as Arsenal began a crucial run with an important victory, was Bukayo Saka.

Five in a row has taken on a different meaning for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola. It was supposed to signify their pursuit of an unprecedented fifth consecutive English title. Instead, the immediate significance comes from another historic first. Guardiola has lost five consecutive matches, his worst ever run bookended by reverses against Tottenham Hotspur.

If the first scarcely left City distraught, with Guardiola unworried by exiting the Carabao Cup, the latest was more emphatic, more dramatic, more chastening, more stunning. Guardiola’s joint heaviest defeat became an embarrassment. He risks being expelled from the title race. City could find themselves eight points behind Liverpool on Sunday, perhaps returning from Anfield next week 11 adrift. That, Guardiola conceded, would be too big a gap to bridge.

“After eight years here I knew sooner or later we would drop,” he said. But perhaps not this far, this fast. Empires can collapse suddenly and dramatically but City’s was supposed to have been reinforced. This began as an evening of celebration; it became one of humiliation and capitulation. The new-contract bounce, of Guardiola committing his future to the club until 2027, lasted for about 12 minutes of football.

Liverpool moved eight points clear at the top of the Premier League on Sunday as Mohamed Salah scored twice to help them come from behind to beat Southampton 3-2 at St Mary’s.

Arne Slot’s side were looking to take advantage of Manchester City’s third consecutive league defeat on Saturday but were rocked by a determined and at times ferocious display from the Saints, who briefly led after goals from Adam Armstrong and Mateus Fernandes cancelled out Dominik Szoboszlai’s first-half strike.

Liverpool’s opener had come from a costly Southampton error in defence, and there were two more after the break.

On Sky, Ipswich captain Sam Morsy says: “We showed a mix of things and we are disappointed not to get the win. Their keeper has made some great saves.

“Omari Hutchinson has got that quality, loads of those go in in training. He will score loads this season.

“We have good momentum and are getting better and better. The big thing is we keep improving and that is the culture of the football club.”

McKenna adds his views on Delap and Hutchinson too.

On the latter: “He was a big threat first half. 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.”

On Delap: “He is coming along. Enjoyable to work with but he has to improve.

“There are not many like him. His physicality but he can also run behind. His work off the ball is getting better and he is still very, very young.”

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna is clearly happy with his side’s performance.

“That’s a healthy attitude for us to have. It’s where I want us to be.

“Conceding early is a blow but we were the dominant team in the first half.

“Second half, United had more control but we didn’t give up too many big chances. It was a competitive game we could have won but we take the point and move on to next week.

“You can see the growth in the team and when the game got difficult we were more mature. There is some good progress.

“We have to find ways to be competitive and sometimes we have to defend with the entire team, we did that in the second half. We are trying to be adaptable.”

Another interesting snippet from Amorim, who adds: “We have to try to since the first moment, we have to address the new idea and try to be better next year at the same stage.

“Decision-making is a concern, you don’t need to coach them in this level. We are doing some things not in the right moment and that’s what we have to address.

“The 3-4-3 is not the concern, the understanding of the game is what we have to improve.”