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ENGLAND:
Marco van Ginkel played the entirety of Stoke City's 2-1 victory over Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup, and got fourteen minutes off the bench in the following Premier League tie against Norwich City (3-1 win), coming on for Marco Arnautovic. He then got three minutes against Arsenal in the weekend (0-0 draw).
Victor Moses and Nathan Ake had been missing in action due to injury and suspension, respectively. Ake returned to the Watford starting lineup after his three-match ban, but the Hornets were beaten Monday night by Swansea City. Moses trained early last week and was named on the substitutes bench for West Ham's league tie against Newcastle on Saturday. He played the last twenty minutes, brought on in place of Michail Antonio.
John Swift lasted the whole of Brentford's 1-0 loss to Walsall in the FA Cup, while he was subbed off after 73 minutes in yet another 1-0 loss, this time to Championship leaders, Middlesbrough. He also started their most recent fixture against Burnley on the weekend, but was subbed off in the 67th, in what ended as a 3-1 loss. Brentford have now lost four in a row and are 9 points below the playoff spots.
Lucas Piazon was brought on for Stephen Quinn in Reading's 2-2 draw against Huddersfield in the FA Cup, and assisted Hal Robson-Kanu's goal to put them ahead 2-1. He then started (and completed!) the Royals' match against Derby County, deployed just behind the striker as opposed to on the wings. Things are beginning to look better for the Brazilian, with manager Brian McDermott hailing his performance in the aforementioned game. Piazon also started Reading's match against MK Dons on Saturday, getting subbed off in the 64th, and started the FA Cup replay against Huddersfield, playing 79 minutes and getting on the scoresheet for his fourth goal of the season.
Michael Hector, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen in any of the games and might be injured.
Piazon vs MK Dons:
Tomas Kalas was handed a start in the FA Cup, as Middlesbrough lost 1-2 to Burnley but was once again relegated to the bench for their weekend League tie. Boro manager Aitor Karanka recently stated that although Emilio Nsue has been preferred to Kalas, the loanee remains an important part of their squad. That being said, he spent the duration of their following Championship tie, which they surprisingly lost to Bristol City, on the bench.
Our newest addition to the loan army, Mitchell Beeney started between the posts, making his senior professional debut, for Newport County and kept a clean sheet, as they beat York City 1-0. Manager, Warren Feeney was bubbling with praise for the youngster, who only met his teammates for the first time in the pre-match meeting.
FRANCE:
Mario Pasalic was an unused substitute for Monaco's league tie against Ajaccio, and was brought on in the 69th minute of their following league game against FC Lorient. Monaco remains first in the battle for 2nd in the French league.
Jeremie Boga started for Rennes and, in a rather refreshing change, in a wide position. He scored Rennes' equalising goal with a lovely strike, as they came back from 0-2 down to finish the game 2-2. He also played the whole of their following fixture against Troyes, in which they came back once again from two goals down, but to win 4-2 this time!
ITALY:
Stipe Perica started Udinese's loss against Carpi, but was taken off for Antonio Di Natale after 52 minutes. Recently, the youngster spoke out about seeing the veteran striker as his mentor.
With Napoli up 5-0 against Frosinone, Nathaniel Chalobah was brought on for Marek Hamsik in the 78th minute. He missed their most recent league game against Sassuolo as well as Tuesday's Coppa Italia match, following the devastating loss of his mother. Our condolences go out to Nate and younger brother Trevoh who's in the Chelsea Academy. Napoli held a minute's silence on Saturday to honor their loss.
Juan Cuadrado, continues to be second-choice at Juventus. He replaced Stephan Lichtsteiner in the 65th minute of the 2-1 victory over Sampdoria but then both he (and Stipe Perica) only got to watch Juventus' demolition of Udinese on the 17th from the bench.
THE NETHERLANDS:
Dominic Solanke and Izzy Brown started for Vitesse Arnhem as they kicked off the second half of their campaign sans former manager Peter Bosz, who left them out of the blue to join Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, with a 2-0 victory over SC Cambuur. They lasted 76 and 78 minutes, respectively, Lewis Baker and Danilo Pantic watched from the bench. Nathan didn't feature in the match-day squad. While Solanke had a very quiet outing, Brown looked lively but failed to make the most of his chances. Vitesse are now in 4th place, and five points behind third-placed Feyenoord.
You can read a full match report at From Arnhem with Love.
Todd Kane started as usual and helped NEC to a 1-0 win over Willem II and is daring to dream of a Champions League qualifying spot for his side!
Big 3 points today and up to 5th and just 6 points behind 3rd. Big push now till end of season and you never know #ChampionsLeague #nec
— Todd Kane (@Toddy_Kane) January 17, 2016
TURKEY:
Marko Marin played the entirety of Trabzonspor's 3-0 cup victory over Adanaspor, but wasn't included in the squad for the reverse fixture that was played two days later. He then played 50 minutes of their 4-2 loss to Bursaspor.
Kenneth Omeruo started for Kasimpasa, but couldn't prevent their 2-1 loss against Gaziantepspor this weekend.
BELGIUM:
The Jupiler League, too, returned to action this weekend, and saw Cristian Manea start for Mouscron, and Cristian Cuevas for STVV. Victorien Angban and Joao Rodriguez remain out.
OTHERS:
Islam Feruz didn't see the green of the pitch with Hibernian, and has, subject to some final paperwork, left the club and returned to Chelsea. Surprise!
EXTRAS:
Matej Delac is making progress on his road to recovery!
2 i pol mjeseca nakon operacije, poceo trcat/Twelve weeks after surgery, started running pic.twitter.com/SIoYbYD6sA
— Matej Delač (@MatejDelac) January 9, 2016
Here's Wallace, officially unveiled by his new (temporary) home, Gremio.
O lateral Wallace é o novo camisa 2 do Tricolor! pic.twitter.com/f7jpBPAu0N
— Grêmio FBPA (@Gremio) January 11, 2016
Read Dominic Solanke's interview with the Daily Mail here! And his interview with the Chelsea official website here.