Chelsea FC Continental Loan Roundup: October 31, 2013

The usual suspects put up some impressive displays this week, with Thibaut Courtois doing his thing while Lucas Piazon continued to impress. Gael Kakuta, Stipe Perica, and Thorgan Hazard all scored, and Matej Delac is leading a charge to the top of the table. Here's what they all did over the past week:

• Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) - Courtois played a trio of games this week, and looked good in all three. The Belgian kept a clean sheet against Austria Wien, he kept a clean sheet against Real Betis, and then kept Granada off the board until stoppage time this evening. That's not the worst response I've seen to an own goal.
• Marko Marin (Sevilla) - Marin is still out with injury, and is still expected back sometime in mid-November. Poor hobbit.
• Oriol Romeu (Valencia) - Romeu started and got a full 90 minutes during Valencia's 5-1 Europa League rout, but was unused in either of Valencia's La Liga losses this week.
• Matej Delac (FK Vojvodina) - Delac kept yet another clean sheet this weekend as his side managed a 2-0 victory to move them into second place. Delac's quiet night wasn't enough to get him into the extensive highlight package:
• Lucas Piazon (Vitesse Arnhem) - Piazon played 90 minutes over the weekend, and registered another pair of assists in a typically dominant performance. There is literally nothing the Brazilian isn't doing well at this stage, and he's quickly forcing his name to the forefront of any discussion of the best players in the league.
• Cristian Cuevas (Vitesse Arnhem) - Cuevas continues to work with the Vitesse reserves at left back, and looks as if he'll remain with that group for as long as Patrick van Aanholt remains.
• Christian Atsu (Vitesse Arnhem) - Now that Atsu has gotten his work permit, he looks to be nailing down a regular spot in the Vitesse squad. He started and played about 85 minutes over the weekend, and was on the pitch for the full 90 in yesterday's tie. He played very well in both games, playing more of a central midfield role than I think many were anticipating.
• Sam Hutchinson (Vitesse Arnhem) - Hutchinson was on the bench this past weekend, but got his first Vitesse start yesterday in a cup tie. He's still not fit enough to play 90 minutes, but his coaches were impressed with what he showed in a little over an hour. Hutchinson had the following to say after his performance (Sam's answers are in English):
• Patrick van Aanholt (Vitesse Arnhem) - PvA got 90 minute over the weekend and followed that up with 90 more during the cup tie on Wednesday. As usual, he was a rock on the left side of the Vitesse defense.
• Gael Kakuta (Vitesse Arnhem) - Kakuta is starting to see minutes again, and came on when Atsu was subbed off (Vitesse were chasing a goal) over the weekend. He then started and scored a brace in his 90 minute showing during the cup tie midweek, unfortunately I can't find a highlight package from that one at the moment.
• Stipe Perica (NAC Breda) - Perica started the weekend's match on the bench, but cam on for about 25 minutes at the end of a blowout. He'd manage to score the club's fifth goal of the day, and generally looked impressive in his time on the pitch. Perica picked up a minor injury in that one, and was left on the bench midweek because of it. His goal and the akward looking celebration can be found around the 5 minute mark of the video below:
• Wallace (Inter Milan) - Wallace was an unused sub twice this past week for Inter. It's looking as if Chelsea's preference to see him go to Vitesse would have been far more beneficial to the Brazilian than his agent's preference for Italy.
• Thorgan Hazard (Zulte Waregem) - Thorgan has played three times since our last update, and seems to be taking on a more central role than he had last season. He had a pair of quiet games for Essevee over the past week, but bounced back by scoring the winner against Gent on Wednesday.
• Ulises Davila (Cordoba) - Davila got a start for Cordoba this week and played just over 70 minutes.
• Jhon Pirez (CD Leganes) - Pirez got just over 30 minutes of action this week, and had several good chances to find the back of the net. Unfortunately, he didn't take any of those chances.