ENGLAND:
Tammy Abraham’s goals just don't seem to ever lead to victory for Bristol City as of late. Paired up front alongside a new strike partner Matty Taylor, the January signing from Bristol Rovers, Tammy added two goals to Taylor’s opener to put City up 3-0 against Derby County. Despite this, the Robins lost the plot in the second half and allowed Derby back into the game, conceding three goals and had to settle for just a point at the end of it. Although with a game in hand over QPR who are immediately above them in the league table, City sit in 20th position, only three points above the relegation zone.
These goals took Tammy’s tally in all competitions to 21, three short of Patrick Bamford’s 24 goals in the 2013/14 season with MK Dons and Derby County. Abraham currently is also the joint second-highest goalscorer in the Championship, tied with Leeds United’s Chris Wood at 18 goals and trailing Newcastle’s Dwight Gayle by two goals.
Upcoming fixtures: Leeds United (A, February 14), Fulham (H, February 22)
Izzy Brown played a full 90 and scored Huddersfield’s opening goal in what was ultimately a nervy 1-2 win against QPR. Brown’s loan switch to the Terriers continues to reap rewards, both for the player himself and for his loan club. Huddersfield occupy 3rd position, 6 points behind second-placed Brighton and one point above Reading, although with a game in hand.
Next weekend, Manchester City will travel to John Smith’s Stadium, hopefully Izzy will help Huddersfield to a giant-killing!
Upcoming fixtures: Rotherham (A, February 14), Manchester City (H, February 18)
Fikayo Tomori was yet again, an unused substitute for Brighton and Hove Albion.
Upcoming fixtures: Ipswich Town (H, February 14), Barnsley (A, February 18)
For the first time in a while, the Fulham starting XI was void of any Chelsea loanees. Tomas Kalas sat their 3-2 win against Wigan Athletic out due to a minor knock, while Lucas Piazon was an unused substitute. Fulham will face their next big test in the FA Cup, as they take on Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Upcoming fixtures: Nottingham Forest (H, February 14), Tottenham Hotspur (A, February 19)
Christian Atsu was a half-time substitute for Newcastle, who edged Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1, maintaining their lead of a point at the top of the table.
Upcoming fixtures: Norwich City (A, February 14), Aston Villa (H, February 20)
Jay Dasilva loan certainly doesn’t seem to be going as planned. He watched the proceedings of Charlton’s 1-1 draw against Wimbledon from the bench.
Loic Remy played the last three minutes of Crystal Palace’s 1-0 loss to Stoke City.
Fankaty Dabo and Charlie Colkett played the whole game as Swindon lost 1-0 to Bury. Islam Feruz was excluded from the match-day squad, just as he was last weekend. After four consecutive losses, Swindon find themselves in 22nd place (and in the relegation zone), the nearest team above them being Bury, the gap luckily being only a single point.
Jordan Houghton played the whole of Doncaster’s goalless draw against Newport County; even on the back of two draws in a row, Doncaster sit atop the League Two table, though not by much.
Jamal Blackman started in goal as Wycombe lost 3-0 to Stevenage. Although currently in 8th place, the promotion play-off zone is but two points away from the Chairboys.
Crewe Alexandra enjoyed a much-needed boost in confidence with a resounding 5-0 win against Grimsby Town. They did it mostly without Alex Kiwomya though, who was only brought on in the 83rd minute.
Nathan Baxter kept a clean sheet against soon-to-be vanquishers of Arsenal, Sutton United.
.@SolihullMoors' on-loan duo Nathan Baxter & @R_charlescook have been included in the @NonLeaguePaper's Team of the Day! #SMFC ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/ih4PyaNDVF
— Vital Solihull Moors (@VitalSMFC) February 12, 2017
THE NETHERLANDS:
After their refreshingly good form in recent weeks, Vitesse somehow managed to lose 2-0 to lowly Willem II; their opponents scored with the only two actual chances they had, in the dying minutes of the game as Vitesse committed one man too many forward in search of a goal. Lewis Baker played the whole game and was unlucky not to score and Nathan played the whole 90 as well. Matt Miazga replaced the injured Maikel van der Werff in the 37th minute and is in with a good shout of starting Vitesse’s upcoming match against Ajax, with both van der Werff and Arnold Kruiswijk currently injured. Mukhtar Ali will have to wait some more for his Vitesse debut, he was an unused substitute.
Upcoming fixtures: Ajax (H, February 19)
Bertrand Traore slotted right back into the Ajax starting XI upon his return from the African Cup of Nations and got his name on the scoresheet with an excellent finish from the edge of the penalty area after beating two defenders with some nimble footwork.
Pure magic from Traoré! #ajaspa #ajax [@voetbalgeneuzel] pic.twitter.com/8m1F7jns4O
— AjaxDaily (@ajaxdailydotcom) February 12, 2017
Upcoming fixtures: Legia Warsaw (A, February 16), Vitesse (A, February 19)
Marco van Ginkel scored his third goal for PSV this season, capping off his side’s (3-0) victory against FC Utrecht with the third goal in the 93rd minute.
Upcoming fixtures: NEC Nijmegen (H, February 18)
Danilo Pantic had a two-minute cameo in Excelsior’s 1-1 draw against Twente.
GERMANY:
Michael Hector started against Bayer Leverkusen in the absence of David Abraham and was unfortunately part of the defence that let in three goals on the day; Eintracht lost the game 3-0 but maintained their league position of third.
Upcoming fixtures: Ingolstadt (H, February 18)
A Thorgan Hazard strike in the 12th minute was enough to earn Borussia Monchengladbach a 0-1 win against Werder Bremen, which was their third straight win and also a second consecutive clean sheet for Andreas Christensen.
Upcoming fixtures: Fiorentina (H, February 16), RB Leipzig (H, February 19)
BELGIUM:
Matej Delac started Royal Excel Mouscron’s 1-2 loss against KV Oostende, while Cristian Cuevas was absent from STVV’s 0-3 loss against Genk.
OTHERS:
Granada play on Monday night, but neither Jeremie Boga nor Victorien Angban have made even the prospective match-day 18. As if the signing of Adrian Ramos from Borussia Dortmund in January wasn’t enough of a spanner in the works for Boga, his adversities have only been compounded with the acquisition of Ghanaian winger Mubarak Wakaso, who was signed on loan from Panathinaikos. Boga also apparently has a slight problem with his toe, which could also be the reason for his exclusion.
Upcoming fixtures: Real Betis (H, February 17)
AC Milan take on Lazio on Monday night, with Mario Pasalic expected to keep his place in the XI. This page will be updated with any actions of note.
Upcoming fixtures: Fiorentina (H, February 19)
Kenneth Omeruo helped keep a clean sheet as Alanyaspor beat GSK Ankara 3-0.