Chelsea Loan Round-up: Mount assist; Matt Miazgoal; Zouma relegated; Baba sighting; others

ENGLAND:

Ruben Loftus-Cheek continued his rich vein of form with another strong display as Crystal Palace secured their Premier League status for another season whilst relegating Stoke City, winning 1-2 at the Bet365 Stadium. Kurt Zouma also started in this match, though he wasn’t directly at fault for either of the goals.

Kenedy started again and completed 90 relatively quiet minutes for Newcastle United, who lost 2-1 to Watford.

Tammy Abraham still can’t get regular starts for Swansea but like on many other occasions, was first off the bench in the 59th minute, as Swansea (unsuccessfully) attempted to chase Bournemouth’s one-goal lead.

Fikayo Tomori and Michael Hector started Hull City’s last game of the season, a 1-1 draw at Brentford’s Griffin Park which saw Hull finish in 18th place. Ola Aina didn’t start, but was brought on in the 8th minute as center-back Ondrej Mazuch succumbed to injury.

Jamal Blackman, along with Manchester United loanee James Wilson, had his loan bizarrely terminated early and was therefore not involved for Sheffield United. In contrast to Wilson’s poor loan spell, Blackman was among the Blades’ most important players for practically the whole season, making the decision to send him back early all the more surprising. Having been in and around the play-offs all season, United suffered a bit of a collapse towards the end and finished in 10th, which is still no mean feat given they’d just been promoted from League One and had significantly lesser resources than the rest of their competitors for the play-offs.

Jeremie Boga was not involved for Birmingham, who managed to stay in the Championship after all. It only took them four managers to do so!

Lucas Piazon played 64 minutes for Fulham and Tomas Kalas watched proceedings from the bench in Fulham’s 3-1 loss to Birmingham, strengthening their reputation as the Championship’s Tottenham. Fulham would’ve clinched promotion with a win over the Blues, given Cardiff drew 0-0 with Reading but the Cottagers ended up bottling things in quite some fashion. They’ll face Kasey Palmer’s Derby County in the play-offs. Palmer was an unused substitute for Derby’s 4-1 relegation-slapping blow to Barnsley.

Lewis Baker was not involved for Middlesbrough, who’ll take on Aston Villa in the other play-off fixture.

Jake Clarke-Salter didn’t get off the bench in Sunderland’s hearty 3-0 win against newly-crowned champions, Wolves.

Like Sunderland, relegated MK Dons ended their season with a 0-1 win against 3rd-placed Shrewsbury, but Ike Ugbo wasn’t called upon from the bench.

In a brilliant story of perseverance and comebacks, Rochdale beat Jay Dasilva’s Charlton 1-0 to escape relegation and it was Joe Thompson who scored the winner; a man who’s overcome cancer on two occasions. Charlton finished 6th, and will play Shrewsbury in their play-off fixture. Jay was named Charlton Fans’ Player of the Year at their awards dinner last night and deservedly so.

Jordan Houghton played 90 minutes as 15th-placed Doncaster lost 0-1 to Wigan. Just below them in 16th are Oxford United, for whom Todd Kane started in a 2-1 loss to Blackburn.

Bradley Collins’ spell at Forest Green Rovers ended with a 0-3 loss to Grimsby Town but that should take nothing away from their season on the whole; Rovers have done well to stay in the division, having been promoted from the National League and will look to push on next season.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Vitesse secured a 6th-placed finish and will play Utrecht in the Europa League qualification play-offs after drawing 2-2 against Willem II. Matt Miazga and Mason Mount started for Vitesse, Miazga captaining the side on the day and scoring Vitesse’s first goal, while Mount assisted the second.

Marco van Ginkel lifted the Eredivisie trophy after playing 90 minutes of a goalless draw against Groningen while at the opposite end of the table, Cristian Cuevas wasn’t involved for Twente.

SCOTLAND:

Charly Musonda was nowhere to be seen as Celtic beat Hearts 1-3, and has probably returned to Chelsea early.

GERMANY:

Baba Rahman was named on the bench for the first time since recovering from his ACL injury but didn’t make his way off it, as Schalke beat Augsburg 1-2.

BELGIUM:

Victorien Angban played the whole second half of Waasland-Beveren’s 3-2 win against Royal Excel Mouscron.

SERBIA:

Danilo Pantic played the whole of Partizan Beograd’s 2-2 draw against Napredak.

SPAIN:

Josimar Quintero was an unused substitute for Betis II.

TURKEY:

Kenneth Omeruo was firmly rooted to the bench as Kasimpasa beat Trabzonspor 2-5.

RUSSIA:

Mario Pasalic played the whole of Spartak Moscow’s 2-0 win against FC Rostov. Spartak need to win their last game of the season to avoid losing second place to cross-city rivals, CSKA.

IRELAND:

Mitchell Beeney was absent as Sligo Rovers lost 0-2 to Bohemians.