Penalty takers were among the biggest winners in FPL Gameweek 20, with spot-kicks accounting for many a red and green arrow over the weekend.
Here, we take a look at the key <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a> and takeaways from a fantasy perspective from the weekend&#8217;s matches.
The gameweek concludes with Wolves v Nottingham Forest tonight (Monday, January 6).
If you want details of every goalscorer and assister, plus bonus points and more, see our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-match-centre">Match Centre</a>, which updates live during matches.
Last updated: 07/01/25 (<a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a>)

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<h2>Salah&#8217;s form too good for FPL managers to ignore</h2>
Mohamed Salah&#8217;s form was too irresistible for the vast majority of FPL managers ahead of Liverpool hosting a struggling Manchester United this weekend.
The Egyptian was backed as captain by a massive 97% of the game&#8217;s top 250,000 managers.
With 12 double-digit hauls this season, Salah has become the go-to captain pick each week now.
And although Liverpool disappointing in the 2-2 draw, Salah still found a way to score. His goal came from the penalty spot in an otherwise quiet day for him. We explore the match in more detail later in the article.
Cole Palmer &#8211; the second most popular captain choice at 1.02% &#8211; marginally outscored Salah&#8217;s seven pointer, with a goal and maximum bonus leading to 10 points.
<div id="attachment_69876" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69876" class="size-full wp-image-69876" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GW20-captaincy.jpg" alt="Top 250,000 FPL managers' captaincy choices" width="800" height="650" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GW20-captaincy.jpg 800w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GW20-captaincy-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GW20-captaincy-768x624.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GW20-captaincy-610x496.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Top 250,000 FPL managers&#8217; captaincy choices</div>
<h2>Backing the penalty takers often works wonders</h2>
Gameweek 20 was a reminder of the value of penalty takers, with six spot kicks converted over the weekend.
Raul Jimenez was the biggest beneficiary, with both of Fulham&#8217;s goals against Ipswich coming from 12 yards. The Cottagers also conceded a penalty in their 2-2 draw against Ipswich, with Liam Delap on target.
There were also penalties for Salah, Bryan Mbeumo and Joao Pedro.
Brighton forward Pedro&#8217;s penalty against Arsenal was a controversial one, with William Saliba punished for a clash of heads.
Although penalties are not everything &#8211; with plenty of non-penalty taking players making for excellent FPL picks &#8211; having plenty of takers can reap rewards.
The number of penalties per game is so far down on the previous two seasons but in gameweeks like this, they can make all the difference.
There have been 46 penalties in 198 games in 2024/25 &#8211; 0.23 a game. There were 107 (0.28) and 99 (0.26) in the two previous seasons.
<div id="attachment_69877" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69877" class="size-full wp-image-69877" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Penalty-takers-2.jpg" alt="Gameweek 20 penalty takers" width="798" height="650" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Penalty-takers-2.jpg 798w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Penalty-takers-2-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Penalty-takers-2-768x626.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Penalty-takers-2-610x497.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px" />Gameweek 20 penalty takers</div>
<h2>Super Savinho impresses &#8211; but City still shaky defensively</h2>
Savinho played a part in three of Manchester City&#8217;s four goals in their 4-1 home win over West Ham on Saturday.
The 20-year-old winger, playing on the left this week, saw a shot turned in by Vladimir Coufal before he assisted both of Erling Haaland&#8217;s goals.
No player managed more assists or a better expected assists (xA) tally in the weekend fixtures than the Brazilian.
Two goals for Haaland and a convincing scoreline implies City were back to their former selves.
But this was not the full story, as the Hammers had more shots &#8211; 17 to City&#8217;s 10 &#8211; and missed three big chances.
The defending champions again looked vulnerable defensively &#8211; and they travel to Brentford in their next league game.
No team has scored more goals per game at home this season than the Bees, so it would not be a surprise to see their players pick up points against City next week.
<div id="attachment_69878" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69878" class="size-full wp-image-69878" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Savinho-3.jpg" alt="Savinho's season stats" width="798" height="650" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Savinho-3.jpg 798w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Savinho-3-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Savinho-3-768x626.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Savinho-3-610x497.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px" />Savinho&#8217;s season <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a></div>
<h2>Saints still a team to target</h2>
Southampton looked to have tightened up a little in new manager Ivan Juric&#8217;s first two games, conceding two goals against an expected goals conceded (xGC) of 1.6.
Before that, Saints had posted an xGC per game of 2.3 &#8211; the most in the league &#8211; making them a team to target.
On the evidence of their 0-5 home loss to Brentford on Saturday, this remains the case.
Thomas Frank&#8217;s team racked up a league-leading 4.23 xG, with a massive 11 big chances.  Five of these fell to Yoane Wissa, who came away with just a single goal and assist.
Mbeumo managed the biggest haul of the weekend, with two goals and an assisting amounting to 19 points.
Budget defender Sepp van den Berg added an assist to his clean sheet but was denied a goal after his header was ruled out by VAR.
Juric&#8217;s side face Manchester United away next, who put in an improved performance against Liverpool.
<div id="attachment_69879" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69879" class="size-full wp-image-69879" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mbeumo-v-Wissa-GW20.jpg" alt="Bryan Mbeumo v Yoane Wissa " width="800" height="650" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mbeumo-v-Wissa-GW20.jpg 800w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mbeumo-v-Wissa-GW20-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mbeumo-v-Wissa-GW20-768x624.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mbeumo-v-Wissa-GW20-610x496.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Bryan Mbeumo v Yoane Wissa</div>
<h2>United improved as points shared at Anfield</h2>
The FPL captaincy split indicated many were expecting Liverpool to hammer the visiting United on Sunday.
But the home side were arguably fortunate to come away with a point, with Ruben Amorim&#8217;s Red Devils performing well in the 2-2 draw.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who contributed one key pass on the creative front, was singled out for criticism in defence as Lisandro Martinez crept in behind to open the scoring.
Cody Gakpo soon levelled for the hosts before a Matthijs de Ligt handball gifted Salah a penalty.
Amad Diallo grabbed an equaliser in the 80th minute and Harry Maguire missed a big chance at the very end of the match to deny Amorim a statement victory.
Owners of United FPL assets will be encouraged by the performance ahead of the Southampton game &#8211; but Amorim&#8217;s men have struggled for consistency to date.
Amorim made his frustrations over his team&#8217;s varied performances clear post-match. He told Sky Sports:
<blockquote>&#8220;I get more mad because of the other games. It&#8217;s even harder to understand some things.
&#8220;This is not about the system, it&#8217;s about something else. It&#8217;s hard to understand even for the coach. We should get mad and disappointed &#8211; more than the other day, against Newcastle, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest. Today we need to be really disappointed.
&#8220;[I haven&#8217;t told my players this yet] because I need to calm down and say the right thing. We are in a difficult moment. It&#8217;s hard to not get really mad. I&#8217;m happy for the performance and the result &#8211; but I&#8217;m really really mad about the other games.&#8221;</blockquote>
United now have one of the best fixture runs over the next few weeks, with home games against Saints, Brighton and Crystal Palace to come.
<div id="attachment_69880" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69880" class="size-full wp-image-69880" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Amad-GW1-19.jpg" alt="Amad Diallo's stats" width="798" height="650" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Amad-GW1-19.jpg 798w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Amad-GW1-19-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Amad-GW1-19-768x626.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Amad-GW1-19-610x497.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px" />Amad Diallo&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a></div>
<h2>Opta stats leaders for FPL Gameweek 20: Players</h2>
Here are the gameweek&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a> leaders in full. Additions following Monday night will be shown in bold italics:
<ul>
<li>Shots &#8211; Yoane Wissa &#8211; 8</li>
<li>Shots on target &#8211; Yoane Wissa &#8211; 5</li>
<li>Shots in the box &#8211; Yoane Wissa &#8211; 7</li>
<li>Big chances &#8211; Yoane Wissa &#8211; 5</li>
<li>Goals &#8211; Erling Haaland, Bryan Mbeumo and Raul Jimenez &#8211; 2</li>
<li>xG &#8211; Yoane Wissa &#8211; 1.36</li>
<li>Non-penalty xG (NpxG) &#8211; Yoane Wissa &#8211; 1.36</li>
<li>Key passes &#8211; Bryan Mbeumo, Cole Palmer, Mikkel Damsgaard &#8211; 5</li>
<li>Big chances created &#8211; Declan Rice &#8211; 3</li>
<li>Assists &#8211; Savinho &#8211; 3</li>
<li>Expected assists (xA) &#8211; Joao Gomes &#8211; 1.11</li>
<li>FPL points &#8211; Bryan Mbeumo &#8211; 19</li>
<li>Expected points (xPts) &#8211; Bryan Mbeumo &#8211; 11.79</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="mceTemp">Opta stats leaders for FPL Gameweek 20: Teams</h3>
<ul>
<li>Most shots &#8211; Brentford (v Southampton) &#8211; 20</li>
<li>Highest xG &#8211; Brentford &#8211; 4.23</li>
<li>Lowest xG &#8211; Southampton &#8211; 0.28</li>
</ul>
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5 things we learned from Gameweek 20: Jimenez among penalty haulers, Saints still team to target

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