The Loan Army continues to chip away at statistical improvement, with two more goals for the tally, and plenty of minutes all round over the past seven days.
Headliners
It’s been a particularly good week for Mario Pašalić. He scored for Atalanta at Cagliari in the Coppa italia on Monday night, then claimed two assists in a 5-0 thumping of Frosinone on Sunday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuYW_kGy99Q
He’s not been a regular fixture in the team there, but he has played often enough, and this recent impressive link-up with the prolific Duvan Zupata could see him earn a longer spell in the starting eleven.
For Tammy Abraham, meanwhile, the wheel keeps on turning. He scored his 17th of the season in Aston Villa’s 2-2 draw against Todd Kane and Hull City, and it looks very much like he’ll be staying at Villa Park until the end of the season.
Manager Dean Smith noted that Chelsea had a time-limited recall clause, believed to have expired mid-month, and although the Blues could sell him, they would have to receive a big enough offer for them to do that at this stage.
England
Premier League
Kurt Zouma was unable to help Everton avoid a 2-1 defeat away to Southampton while Kenedy missed out twice for Newcastle this week as he struggles with a toenail injury.
Championship
Enjoying more success on the South Coast against the Saints were Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori. For the second time this season they claimed a Premier League scalp in a cup competition as they defeated Ralph Hassenhuttl’s men on penalties in the FA Cup. Having been 2-0 down, just as they were in the first leg, they fought back admirably and sealed a place in the Fifth Round. Mount scored a stupendous penalty during the shootout while Tomori was superb throughout the 120 minutes at St Mary’s.
They each pulled double duty in then completing ninety more minutes in the league win over Reading on Saturday, with Lewis Baker getting 45 minutes for the Royals.
The Chelsea triumvirate at Bristol played their part again as City made it eleven matches unbeaten with a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. Tomas Kalas and Jay Dasilva started, Kasey Palmer came on, and he was involved in the winning goal for the second week in a row. He wasn’t the scorer this time around, but his involvement off the bench has already drawn rewards, and he should be starting before much longer.
Michael Hector’s Sheffield Wednesday got the better of Reece James’ Wigan in a forgettable match at Hillsborough, and there was more frustration for Trevoh Chalobah as Ipswich lost 2-0 at Blackburn to remain rooted to the foot of the table.
Izzy Brown is on the comeback trail for Leeds, having scored twice for their Under-23s earlier in the week, but Marcelo Bielsa isn’t rushing him towards a return just yet.
How Marcelo Bielsa plans to integrate Izzy Brown into the #lufc squad now he is fully fithttps://t.co/SQkdphPEtN
— Yorkshire Evening Post (@LeedsNews) January 19, 2019
League One
Brad Collins and Burton drew 2-2 at Doncaster Rovers ahead of their League Cup Semi Final Second Leg against Manchester City, where they trail 9-0 on aggregate, but there was no Dujon Sterling as Coventry lost 2-1 at Plymouth. No reason was given for his absence.
League Two
It’s two wins and two clean sheets in a row for Josh Grant at Yeovil as the Glovers beat Notts County 2-0 in what is fast becoming a tight relegation scrap. Nathan Baxter recorded his 10th clean sheet of the season and the 26th of his senior career, a fine tally for 110 appearances in his nascent journey.
Jacob Maddox came on midway through the second half in a losing cause as Cheltenham lost 2-0 to Carlisle courtesy of goals scored before he entered the fray.
Non League
After some debut heroics for Sutton United last weekend, Karlo Žiger wasn’t involved this time around, and isn’t likely to be called upon except for emergency measures.
Italy
Ola Aina played another ninety minutes at left wing-back for Torino in a 3-2 defeat at Roma. Tiémoué Bakayoko played ninety minutes in defeat against Juventus in the Italian Super Cup and is expected to start away to Genoa on Monday night.
Netherlands
The Eredivisie resumed after a winter break and Vitesse returned with a 3-2 win at home to Excelsior. Eduardo and Jake Clarke-Salter played from start to finish as Leonid Slutskiy’s men moved up to fourth, some way off the traditional big three of PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord.
Fankaty Dabo played 64 minutes for Sparta Rotterdam against Roda.
Spain
A big seven days for Kenneth Omeruo saw him keep a clean sheet in a 1-0 win over a much-changed Real Madrid in the Cup, although his Leganés team lost 3-1 on aggregate, before taking his place away to Barcelona, where they suffered the same defeat over ninety minutes.
Joao Rodriguez was not selected by Tenerife against Gimnastic as speculation over his future there intensifies, and Josi Quintero was an unused sub for Lleida versus Espanyol B.
Germany
Christian Pulisic was a 76th-minute substitute as Dortmund beat Leipzig 1-0 to remain top of the Bundesliga.
France
Matt Miazga was an unused substitute for Nantes against Nimes and was not involved away to Angers, and neither was Victorien Angban as Metz lost at home to fellow promotion-chasers Clermont.
Belgium
Kylian Hazard played 22 minutes in Cercle Brugge’s draw away to Waasland-Beveren.
Northern Ireland
Jared Thompson didn’t feature for Warrenpoint against Institute.
Statistics
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