ENGLAND:
Izzy Brown got off the mark for his new loan club, Huddersfield Town, with a wonderful solo effort to put his side ahead against Ipswich Town, in what ended as a 2-0 win for the Terriers. Although the season is nowhere near close to ending, the top two teams in the Championship (Newcastle and Brighton) seem earmarked to finish no lower; Huddersfield, who are currently 8 points behind them, can surely look to finish at least in the promotion play-off spots. Kasey Palmer had to sit out this game due to his hamstring injury, but should be back for next weekend’s FA Cup game against Rochdale.
Goalazooo! Happy to score my first goal for @htafcdotcom also happy to get man of the match ⚪️… https://t.co/kGCCXLvRbl
— Isaiah Brown (@izzyjaybrown) January 21, 2017
Good win for the team today, bouncing back from last week looking forward to being back training soon ⚪️#UTT
— Kasey (@kaseypalmer45) January 21, 2017
DW: "you cannot tell that @izzyjaybrown has only been here a few weeks but he's still not the player he will end up being here" #htafc (DTS)
— Huddersfield Town (@htafcdotcom) January 21, 2017
Upcoming fixtures: Rochdale (A, January 28)
Loïc Rémy made his first start in the league for Crystal Palace and played 61 minutes before being replaced by Chung-Yong Lee. Despite their recent change in managers, Palace continue sinking fast. They have 1 Premier League win since September.
Upcoming fixtures: Manchester City (H, January 28)
Bristol City seemed to be vastly overachieving at the start of the season; spurred on by Tammy Abraham’s goal-scoring exploits, they found themselves as high as 6th early on but now are languishing at the bottom end of the Championship table, inching even closer to the relegation zone with their most recent defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest. The Robins will finish this gameweek in 20th place, two points above Burton Albion and Blackburn Rovers (22nd and 23rd respectively). It did take a spectacular effort from a dead-ball situation by Ben Osborn to inflict the loss upon them but it is what it is, and this was their eighth (!) consecutive loss. Manager Lee Johnson will surely be under some fierce scrutiny, if not already. Abraham did, of course, play the whole 90. Unless Johnson decides to rest him for the upcoming FA Cup fixture against Burnley, Abraham could have a good opportunity to test himself against a Premier League defence.
Upcoming fixtures: Burnley (A, January 28)
Tomas Kalas played the whole 90 and Lucas Piazon played 77 minutes in Fulham’s 1-1 draw against QPR. Kalas had a few uncharacteristically erratic moments but looked solid otherwise. Fulham have lost only 2 of the 18 games Kalas has started for them, and in one of those two losses they were reduced to ten men.
Upcoming fixtures: Reading (A, January 24), Hull City (A, January 29)
Charlie Colkett, Islam Feruz and Fankaty Dabo all started for Swindon but couldn’t help them to a win against Peterborough United. Colkett and Dabo played the whole of the 0-1 loss but Feruz was hauled off after 57 minutes; Colkett and Dabo seemed to be the only players to come away with any credit.
@OfficialColkz that was dirty!!! pic.twitter.com/QdXSRdyZ5K
— Eliteprosportsfc (@Elitegoprofc) January 21, 2017
Disappointing result today but we bounce back. Massive two games ahead of us. #STFC
— Fankaty Dabo (@FankDabo) January 21, 2017
Upcoming fixtures: Bristol Rovers (A, January 28)
Jordan Houghton played the whole of Doncaster Rovers’ 3-1 win against Crewe Alexandra, for whom Alexander Kiwomya played just over 20 minutes.
Oustanding 2nd half! Another win, well done boys! #drfc
— Jordan Houghton (@HOUGHTON_J) January 21, 2017
♂️
— Alexander Kiwomya (@Golden_Kiwomya) January 21, 2017
Jamal Blackman played in Wycombe Wanderers’ 1-1 draw against Luton Town; it took a last-gasp equaliser from the legendary Adebayo Akinfenwa for the Chairboys to extend their unbeaten run to 15.
Dion Conroy played the whole of Aldershot’s 1-1 draw against Gateshead while Nathan Baxter made his first start for Solihull Moors against Boreham Wood, and kept his first clean sheet for his new loan club.
GERMANY:
Andreas Christensen and Borussia Monchengladbach failed to clinch a much-needed victory against Darmstadt, only managing a 0-0 draw.
Upcoming fixtures: Bayer Leverkusen (A, January 28)
Michael Hector played the whole 90 in the middle of a defensive three, as Eintracht Frankfurt were thoroughly outclassed by RB Leipzig and beaten 3-0.
Upcoming fixtures: Schalke (A, January 27)
THE NETHERLANDS:
Lewis Baker had his suspension from the red card in his previous game reduced to just one match after a successful appeal to KNVB, which he then served during Vitesse’s 1-1 draw against Groningen. Nathan was an unused substitute, while Matt Miazga replaced captain Guram Kashia at half-time because manager Henk Fraser was displeased with the Georgian’s showing.
Upcoming fixtures: Feyenoord (H, January 26), AZ Alkmaar (H, January 29)
Danilo Pantic was absent yet again for Excelsior.
Marco van Ginkel made it two goals in as many games for PSV, helping them to an extraordinary comeback victory against SC Heerenveen. Ex-Charlton striker Reza Ghoochannejhad’s hat-trick had Heerenveen up 3-2 but a quickfire twin blow via Van Ginkel and Hector Moreno in the 89th and 90th minutes, respectively saw the reigning champions win the game 4-3 and keep their title hopes alive.
Upcoming fixtures: Heracles (A, January 28)
BELGIUM:
There was a rare win for Matej Delac and Royal Excel Mouscron, who beat Lokeren 2-1.
Important win yesterday. Congratulations to all team and thanks to our fans for support. @ExcelMouscron pic.twitter.com/ku0cEhGPyx
— Matej Delač (@MatejDelac) January 22, 2017
Cristian Cuevas was an unused substitute in STVV’s 3-1 loss to Anderlecht.
OTHERS:
Jeremie Boga was taken off after an ineffective first-half display against Espanyol; Granada went on to lose the game 3-1. Granada have hit rock bottom once more with Osasuna for company on a grand points tally of ten (10). The first team above the relegation zone is Leganes, who are a whole 8 points ahead. It’s going to be a long season ahead for Boga and his side.
Upcoming fixtures: Villarreal (A, January 28)
Mario Pasalic played 86 minutes of AC Milan’s 1-2 loss to Napoli and earned mixed reviews.
Upcoming fixtures: Juventus (A, January 25), Udinese (A, January 29)
Kenneth Omeruo’s Alanyaspor take on Besiktas on Monday night, and this report will be duly updated.