Chelsea Loan Round-up: 12-18 February

ENGLAND:

Kurt Zouma and Kenedy weren’t in action last week, as their loan clubs have been knocked out of the FA Cup.

Aston Villa suffered a double-blow of defeats, first against Brentford and then to midland rivals, West Brom. Villa have now registered only one win since Boxing Day, their promotion prospects looking dimmer by the week. Tammy Abraham started both as per usual, and spurned a golden opportunity early on, when a turnover led to him one-on-one with Sam Johnstone but he couldn’t finish past the former Villa stopper. He also came close to scoring in the second half but his glancing header at the end of Kourtney Hause’s cross went just wide.

Michy Batshuayi was on the pitch for a largely disappointing 75 minutes versus League One opposition in Doncaster Rovers. Hopefully he can step things up soon.

Reading picked up their second win under Jose Gomes by defeating Blackburn 2-1 on Wednesday but were then thrashed 4-0 by the juggernaut that is Sheffield United. Matt Miazga played the entirety of both games, and Lewis Baker was an 81st-minute substitute in midweek but lasted the whole of the drubbing at Bramall Lane.

Reece James started for Wigan in midfield despite the return of captain, Sam Morsy, after suspension and was solid, if not spectacular, in their goalless draw against Stoke City.

Trevoh Chalobah started in the holding role of a midfield diamond, as Ipswich drew 1-1 with Stoke City. Once more, it was an impressive outing from the youngster.

Michael Hector started in a pair of draws for Sheffield Wednesday over the week; the first was a goalless one against Millwall, in which he put in a man-of-the-match performance but his 90 minutes against Rotherham (2-2) on Saturday were riddled with errors.

Izzy Brown was an unused substitute for Leeds in both their fixtures last week, but got some more minutes under his belt with their Under-23s yesterday.

Bristol City kept themselves in contention for a finish in the promotion play-off places by coming from behind, to overcome QPR 2-1 at Ashton Gate. Jay Dasilva was named a substitute but once Matt Smith put QPR ahead on the brink of half-time, Dasilva replaced Lloyd Kelly at left-back and helped the Robins pick up another three points. Tomas Kalas started and played well as usual.

Kasey Palmer was an unused substitute in that match but started the FA Cup against Wolves, alongside his fellow Chelsea loanees, Dasilva and Kalas. Dasilva was left isolated against Wolves’ wing-back, Matt Doherty, on many occasions and struggled to deal with him but stepped things up in the second half, rendering it a decent performance overall. Palmer had an ineffective 56 minutes and was replaced by Callum Paterson but Kalas, alongside Adam Webster, did not look out of his depth at all. City were unfortunate to lose the game 1-0.

Todd Kane was an unused substitute in Hull City’s 2-2 draw against Rotherham United.

Dujon Sterling was excellent in Coventry’s 3-0 win against Wallsall, assisting Amadou Bakayoko’s opener and looking threatening in attack throughout.

Bradley Collins started in goal for Burton, who drew 1-1 against Shrewsbury. Collins was hung out to dry for Tyrese Campbell’s opener but could’ve perhaps handled the one-on-one situation better.

Jacob Maddox lasted the whole game, as Grimsby defeated Cheltenham Town 1-0. Cheltenham had precious few cohesive attacks but when they did, Maddox tended to be involved.

In this interview with the Bristol Post, Maddox provided some insight into his time at Cheltenham, why he chose to join Chelsea from Bristol City at 14 and also about Antoine Semenyo, another Robins youth product on Chelsea’s radar.

Nathan Baxter was reinstated to the Yeovil starting XI on Saturday and did what he could to keep the score down, in their 3-0 loss to Forest Green Rovers, including an excellent save from close range against George Williams. Joshua Grant remained uninvolved, he’s presumably still injured. Baxter made three good saves, but couldn’t do much about the goals conceded.

Karlo Ziger was not involved for Sutton United, while Jack Wakely was out injured.

ITALY:

Lucas Piazon was not involved for Chievo Verona but given the size of Serie A benches, one would have to assume he was injured.

Tiemoue Bakayoko played the whole of AC Milan’s 1-3 win against high-flying Atalanta, for whom Mario Pasalic didn’t leave the bench. He was important in the defensive phase as Atalanta, like Roma, attempted intense pressing in midfield.

Ola Aina played 90 minutes at left wing-back for Torino in their 0-0 stalemate against Napoli.

SPAIN:

Alvaro Morata started for Atletico Madrid, and assisted Antoine Griezmann’s winner against Rayo Vallecano. With 2, he created the most chances in the match.

Against Real Sociedad, Leganes were on the receiving end of the same scoreline they beat Real Betis by, last week (3-0). Kenneth Omeruo played the whole game in the middle of a back three.

Josimar Quintero was a half-time substitute for Llieda Esportiu, who beat Levante’s reserves, 2-0.

GERMANY:

Christian Pulisic looked bright in the first half of Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 loss to Tottenham but faded as the game went on and was substituted after 87 minutes. He was not involved in their weekend fixture against Nürnberg.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Fankaty Dabo played 90 minutes in Sparta Rotterdam’s 1-4 win against FC Dordrecht.

Jake Clarke-Salter and Eduardo started as Vitesse won 3-2 against Willem II and put themselves back on track for a top 5 finish.

Charly Musonda wasn’t expected back at Vitesse this season, but it appears that he may play a part at Arnhem after all, as he’s returning to the Papendaal on Wednesday.

FRANCE:

Baba Rahman was handed his first start for Reims due to a foot injury to the previously impressive Hassane Kamara. He played his part in the 2-0 win over Stade Rennais, registering the most successful tackles (4) in the match.

Victorien Angban played 90 minutes as FC Metz’s promotion bid took a hit, in a 2-1 loss to Paris FC.

TURKEY:

Victor Moses proved too hot to handle for Zenit in their Europa League clash against Fenerbahce and was a thorn in their side, even though he wasn’t directly involved in the only goal of the game. He was rewarded for his efforts with 82 minutes against Konyaspor on Saturday.

BELGIUM:

Kylian Hazard had a 59th-minute introduction for Cercle Brugge, who were unable to get their name on the scoresheet as Royal Excel Mouscron put three past them.

SERBIA:

Partizan marked their return from winter break with a 0-3 win against Backa, although the injured Danilo Pantic had no part in it.

NORTHERN IRELAND:

Jared Thompson started in Warrenpoint Town’s 4-3 loss to Dungannon Swifts.

BRAZIL:

Nathan played two minutes of football over two of Atletico MG’s fixtures last week.