Chelsea Loan Round-up: More goals for Abraham; Champions League action for Traore, Christensen

ENGLAND:

Tammy Abraham started Bristol City's EFL Cup clash against Wycome Wanderers, a team starring the man, the myth, the legend, Adebayo Akinfenwa. Needless to say, Tammy's side emerged victorious with the youngster scoring the only goal of game. All in a day's work, yes?

City will proceed to face Scunthorpe in the next round after Bristol Rovers eliminated Cardiff City to clinch a tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Abraham also started his side's weekend Championship fixture against Burton Albion, scoring a match-winning brace, then started Tuesday's game away to Norwich City, but failed to find the net as Norwich ran out 1-0 winners.

Somewhat unfortunately, Abraham's debut goal last week against Wigan Athletic has now been credited to defender Hordur Magnusson. Nevertheless, Abraham’s record for Bristol stands at an impressive three goals in four games.  An excellent start to the season for the 18-year-old.

Kasey Palmer is still restricted to playing an impact substitute role for David Wagner's Huddersfield Town side.  He was a 58th minute substitute in their EFL Cup loss against Strawberry Shrewsbury Town and a 64th minute substitute in their 1-2 victory at St. James Park against Newcastle. He had a much more telling contribution in the latter game, playing a through ball to assist the winning goal.

Despite the assist, Palmer did not get to play at all in today's (Tuesday's) 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa.

Tomas Kalas was rested for Fulham's League Cup tie but returned to the starting XI on Saturday, as the Cottagers edged Preston North End 2-1.  Kalas then started on Tuesday as well as Fulham conceded a late equalizer to share the points away at Leeds United.

In the Premier League, Nathan Ake was an unused substitute for AFC Bournemouth on the weekend and they lost 3-1 to Manchester United. Coincidence? I think not.

In all seriousness, though, a natural right-back in Adam Smith started at center-back, one of the positions in which Ake was deployed during the Cherries’ pre-season. Bournemouth also recently sealed the signing of Stoke City center-back Marc Wilson, so it’s a tad unclear where Ake will get to play. Hopefully Eddie Howe will hand him a chance to impress soon, though.

In the lower leagues, Alexander Kiwomya played an hour in Crewe Alexandra's midweek, extra-time EFL Cup win over Sheffield United and the last thirty minutes in Saturday’s 0-0 draw to Portsmouth.  Handed a chance from the start today however, Kiwomya repaid the faith with a goal and an assist.  Unfortunately, Crewe conceded twice in the final 20 minutes to settle for just a 3-3 draw, with former Cheslea trainee Carl Magnay scoring two of Hartlepool's goals.

Alex Davey made his bow for Crawley Town in a 1-1 draw against a Doncaster Rovers side featuring Jordan Houghton. While they both completed the whole 90, Mitchell Beeney was yet again second choice goalkeeper and on the bench.

Davey started today as well as Crawley beat bottom of the table Exeter City 1-0; Houghton did the same for Doncaster as they also notched a 1-0 win over Cambridge United.

Also seeing action on Tuesday was goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who made his first start for Wycombe Wanderers in the 1-1 draw against Accrington Stanley.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Vitesse Arnhem seemed to have gotten off to a dream start to the season under new manager Henk Fraser with a 4-1 victory against Willem II last week but were given a rude shock by Fraser’s previous club, ADO Den Haag. Lewis Baker and Nathan once again started, playing 87 and 62 minutes respectively, in the 2-1 loss.

Lewis Baker was once again a majority ball-carrier for his team but his defensive contributions and agility in midfield leave a lot to be desired.

Bertrand Traore played the last half-hour of Ajax’s 2-2 draw against Roda JC.  The 21-year-old then got a chance from the start against FK Rostov in the Champions League on Tuesday, but Ajax did not play well and managed only a 1-1 draw in the home leg of the play-off for the group stages.  They will have to do much better in next week's second leg.

OTHERS:

There were no such problems for Andreas Christensen, as Borussia Monchengladbach took care of Young Boys in the away leg of their play-off.  It was Gladbach's first competitive match of the season, with the usual three-man setup at the back serving them well in the 3-1 win.  Thorgan Hazard chipped in with an assist as well as Christensen & Co look to better last year's run in Europe.

Matej Delac was on the bench again for Royal Mouscron, as was Wallace for Gremio against Corinthians.

Joao Rodriguez played the whole of Santa Fe’s 1-0 loss to Atletico Hulla.