Chelsea Loan Round-up: Red cards for Nathan Ake and Michael Hector headline festive season fixtures

ENGLAND:

Wulfert Cornelius van Ginkel was brought on for Glenn Whelan at the break and for Xherdan Shaqiri with three minutes left on the clock, in Stoke City's festive period wins against Manchester United and Everton respectively.

A side note; Stoke is a fun team to play with on FIFA 16.

Nathan Ake was ineligible to play against his parent club on Boxing Day, but returned to the starting line-up for Watford's next fixture against another London club, Tottenham Hotspur. The Dutchman started the game well enough but things quickly took a turn for the worse, as his karate kick on Erik Lamela earned him a straight red card in the 63rd minute, with the scores level at 1-1. It was an incredibly unfortunate development for the youngster, though manager Quique Sanchez Flores spoke out in support of Ake, saying he had nothing to apologise for. Hopefully, either Watford manage to reduce Ake's ban to a single game (which seems unlikely, as the challenge arguably warranted a straight red) or Jose Holebas turns in a few abject displays in his place. Or both.

@NathanAke should be done for assault for https://t.co/IWZLteqKSu pic.twitter.com/DR5TOwKKNq

— Lifesfootball (@Lifesfootball1) December 29, 2015

Patrick Bamford wasn't included in Crystal Palace's match-day squad against Bournemouth on Boxing Day and despite being brought on at half-time against Swansea City, confirmed after the game that he would be returning to Chelsea in January. He will likely head out on loan to a different destination soon, such as maybe Middlesbrough, where manager Aitor Karanka has repeatedly mentioned that he wouldn't think twice about welcoming the striker back to Teesside.

Victor Moses and Christian Atsu remained out due to injury for West Ham and Bournemouth, respectively.

Tomas Kalas was subbed on in the 73rd minute for striker Kike, as Middlesbrough looked to protect their 1-0 lead against Sheffield Wednesday, which they ultimately did. Boro go into the new year atop the Championship table.

Reading look absolutely in shambles, losing two consecutive games (their fifth from their last six games). Michael Hector started both of them, against Wolverhampton and Brentford, but was sent off in the 87th minute of the latter, after picking up a second yellow card for what the referee deemed to be a dive. Lucas Piazon was an unused substitute in the first, but started and played seventy minutes of the second match. The Tilehurst End, evidently, weren't one bit impressed.

John Swift started both of Brentford's festive season fixtures, playing the entirety of the first and 78 minutes of the second, in which he picked up an assist.

Jordan Houghton was nowhere to be seen for Gillingham.

BELGIUM:

Victorien Angban and Joao Rodriguez are still injured, but Cristian Cuevas played the whole of STVV's 2-2 draw against Oud-Heverlee Leuven.

Romanian fullback Cristian Manea saw some minutes, playing 8 off the bench against Sporting de Charleroi and then starting against Standard Liege and playing the full match. Royal Mouscron lost both games.

Manea spoke to Dolce Sport after his first start, claiming he was enjoying his experience in Belgium, adapting very well and hoping to lock down a regular starting spot for Royal Mouscron and subsequently the Romanian National Team.

TURKEY:

Marko Marin played the whole of Trabzonspor's 2-1 cup win over Gaziantepspor, but was only a substitute, brought on in the 75th minute against Kasimpasa on Boxing Day, a 1-1 draw. Kenneth Omeruo started for Kasimpasa in the same fixture.

OTHERS:

Islam Feruz was an unused substitute for Hibernian.