The goals continue to flow at a steady rate for the Chelsea loan army, with three more this week taking us to 77 for the season, and ensuring that the streak of at least one in every full week of the club season so far continues. We kick off with the youngster responsible for more of them than any other.
Headliners
Tammy Abraham is, for the avoidance of any doubt, back. After a lean spell in front of goal for most of November and December, the 19 year-old has responded in style with goals in each of his last four league outings, representing a season-high. His 18th of the campaign came in the Severnside derby against Cardiff City but, despite giving Bristol City a 2-1 lead with ten minutes to go, he still ended up on the losing side as City continue to drop down the table.
Over in the Netherlands, meanwhile, Marco van Ginkel picked up right where he left off in his second spell with PSV Eindhoven, notching a debut goal in their 2-0 win over Excelsior (for whom Danilo Pantic did not feature). His nine goals in the second half of last season helped propel PSV to the title, and he’s off and running again already.
It was almost a perfect day on Sunday for Lewis Baker too; his eleventh of the year opened the scoring and set Vitesse on their way to a much-needed 3-1 win over FC Twente. The ‘almost’ is because he was later shown a red card for a cynical trip to prevent Twente from launching a counter attack; it looked no worse than a yellow card though and he was understandably shocked when a red was produced by the referee.
Matt Miazga came on for the final five minutes to shore up the midfield whilst Nathan was absent having spent the winter rehabbing a knee injury back at Chelsea.
England
Patrick Bamford joined Kenedy and Nathan Aké in being recalled from his Premier League loan this weekend, but he’ll not be returning to the first team fold at Stamford Bridge, rather seeking to kick-start his career elsewhere. A return to Middlesbrough has been mooted, either on loan or a permanent deal.
Loic Remy continued his comeback from injury at Crystal Palace with a twenty-minute cameo in their 3-0 defeat away to West Ham United.
In the Championship, Tomas Kalas returned from a month-long injury layoff to help them to a 2-0 win over Barnsley and just a second clean sheet since he picked up the knock in mid-December. Lucas Piazon completed 89 minutes before revealing that he is set to sign an extension to his loan spell on Monday to keep him at Craven Cottage for the rest of the season.
https://twitter.com/LucasPiazon/status/820323408718209028
Huddersfield lost 2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday without Kasey Palmer, who was back at Cobham receiving treatment on an injured hamstring, but Izzy Brown did play the best part of an hour at Hillsborough.
There was a flurry of activity in League One this week with Charlie Colkett, Islam Feruz and Fankaty Dabo all joining Swindon Town until the end of the season. Colkett has spent four months with Bristol Rovers before being recalled after not playing for a month, whilst Feruz had barely featured in a spell at Belgian club Mouscron, and for Dabo it was a first adventure outside of the academy.
All three started as the Robins took on a Bolton team unbeaten at home in eleven matches. They all put in a solid shift and Colkett’s 89th-minute assist for Yaser Kasim produced a first away win in ten, a great way to start.
https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/820367173172494337
Jay Dasilva, meanwhile, made his debut for Charlton as an early first-half substitute when new signing Lewis Page was taken off injured. Jay himself was then replaced in the closing stages after an indifferent debut in an attacking role, but he’ll steadily grow into the professional game without a shadow of a doubt.
Jordan Houghton and Doncaster went top of League Two with a 3-1 win over Barnet; the midfielder getting his customary ninety minutes. It wasn’t such good news for Alex Kiwomya and Crewe though as, despite the winger notching an assist, they were beaten 2-1 at home by Luton and find themselves just four points above relegation.
There was no action for Dion Conroy and Aldershot this weekend.
Spain
Jeremie Boga played the full match as Granada drew 1-1 against Osasuna. He had a few bright moments but was unable to make the most of them.
Italy
Juan Cuadrado couldn’t prevent Juventus avoid defeat at Fiorentina.
Mario Pašalić and Milan take on Torino on Monday; you can keep up with events there by bookmarking our Loanwatch page.
Turkey
Kenneth Omeruo was booked as Alanyaspor were beaten 3-2 at home by Rizespor.
Winter Breaks/African Cup of Nations
Andreas Christensen, Michael Hector, Matej Delač, Cristian Cuevas, Wallace and Joao Rodriguez are all still on winter breaks, whilst Christian Atsu, Baba Rahman, Bertrand Traore and Victorien Angban are at the African Cup of Nations.