Chelsea Loan Round-up: Hector sent off again, Boga and Abraham score; others

England:

Nathan Ake was consigned to the bench yet again, despite being one of Bournemouth’s better performers in midweek. On Saturday, the Cherries took the lead against Crystal Palace in the first half thanks to a sweet finish by Joshua King but as Bournemouth's efforts waned in the second half, Eddie Howe began ringing in the changes.  Ake was brought on with just a couple minutes to go to help shield left-back Charlie Daniels against the threat of Wilfried Zaha and Martin Kelly but ended up being beaten in the air by Scott Dann for Palace’s equaliser.

Hopefully, Howe will make some changes to his side after the international break and give Ake a proper chance to prove his worth.

Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Upcoming fixtures: West Bromwich Albion (H, September 10)

Tammy Abraham continued his red-hot form, not only scoring the equaliser for his side against Aston Villa, but also assisting the next goal two minutes later! Lee Tomlin added a third to complete the emphatic comeback for Bristol City. That’s five goals in seven appearances for Tammy.

Abraham was largely isolated up front in the first half but helped turn the game around for his side with two instances of clinical execution. He was taken off in the 73rd minute, with manager Lee Johnson later claiming that the striker felt a slight strain in his ankle. Abraham is growing increasingly trusted at Bristol, with rumours of the sale of their top scorer last season, Jonathan Kodija, picking up steam and a move to Derby County looking likely.

Upcoming fixtures: Rotherham United (A, September 10), Sheffield Wednesday (A, September 13)

.@mixedknuts @ChelseaStats pic.twitter.com/J9njkCN0dr

— Graham MacAree (@MacAree) August 29, 2016

Kasey Palmer was finally handed his first Championship start by David Wagner and played an important role in Rajiv van La Parra’s opener, which proved to be the only goal of the game against a similarly high-flying Wolverhampton Wanderers side featuring ex-Chelsea prospect George Saville.

Palmer was taken off after 57 minutes. While displaying obvious prowess in linking midfield and attack swiftly, he was a bit of a weak link in the side defensively and the introduction of Jack Payne in place of him shored things up in midfield, although the gap between midfield and attack increased noticeably.

That’s right, early days still but Huddersfield Town are at the top of the league.

Upcoming fixtures: Leeds United (A, September 10), Brighton and Hove Albion (A, September 13)

Fulham aren’t doing too badly either, currently sitting just below Huddersfield in second place. Tomas Kalas started in Fulham’s 1-0 away victory against Blackburn Rovers and seems to have established himself in Fulham’s first-choice center-back pairing alongside Michael Madl.

Upcoming fixtures: Birmingham City (H, September 10), Burton Albion (H, September 13)

Izzy Brown started and played 83 minutes for Rotherham United, who suffered quite a beating at the hands of Barnsley, conceding four second half goals to no reply of their own.

Upcoming fixtures: Bristol City (H, September 10), Nottingham Forest (H, September 14)

Alex Kiwomya played the whole of Crewe’s 2-0 loss to Cheltenham Town.

Upcoming fixtures: Doncaster Rovers (H, September 3), Exeter City (H, September 10)

Jordan Houghton helped Doncaster Rovers to a comfortable 4-1 victory against Yeovil Town.

Upcoming fixtures: Crewe Alexandra (A, September 3), Morecambe (A, September 10)

Jamal Blackman was in goal, but Wycombe Wanderers fell 0-2 against Colchester United anyway.

Upcoming fixtures: Luton Town (A, September 3), Portsmouth (A, September 10)

Alex Davey started while Mitchell Beeney was on the bench for Crawley Town, who lost 1-3 to Notts County.

Upcoming fixtures: Portsmouth (A, September 3), Stevenage (A, September 10)

THE NETHERLANDS:

There were 90 minutes for Lewis Baker and 69 for Nathan, as Vitesse managed to squander their lead against FC Utrecht to draw 1-1 at the GelreDome. Baker once again took up a more attacking role in place of Vako Qazaishvili while Nathan started on the left flank. For a more detailed analysis, you can read my match report over at From Arnhem with Love.

Upcoming fixtures: Ajax (A, September 11)

Danilo Pantic is yet to sort out his work permit issues, and will probably see his first involvement for Excelsior after the international break.

Upcoming fixtures: Heracles Almelo (H, September 10)

Bertrand Traore was deployed on the right side of Ajax’s front three, as they bounced back from their run of poor results with a 3-0 win over lowly Go Ahead Eagles. Traore flexed his dribbling muscles, completing 8 successful take-ons, and also had 7 attempts on goal, out of which only two were on target however.

He also won the penalty that led to his side’s second goal.

Upcoming fixtures: Vitesse (H, September 11)

GERMANY:

Michael Hector, despite seeing red in Eintracht’s cup fixture last weekend, earned a start in their league opener versus Schalke 04 (the ban following from the cup game applies only to cup fixtures). Hector was very unfortunate though to earn a second red card in his second competitive appearance for Eintracht for a last-man challenge on Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

The circumstances were most unlucky for the Big Hec, who alongside David Abraham was doing a fine job of warding off the Schalke attack.

"He’s a guy like a tree. He goes out there strengthened. Until the sending-off, I have seen a good Hector. Next to Abraham, he bought stability to us."

-Niko Kovac; source: BILD

Huntelaar appeared to go down very easily, and Hector received significant applause as he left the pitch; hopefully he’ll slot right back in after serving his suspension.