Matt Miazga leads the way in this week’s Loan Report after he celebrated a recent return to action with a goal; one generally unbecoming of centre back but, as we’ve discovered this season, he’s not like most centre-backs.
Headliners
His only previous goal this season came in October, when a spectacular stoppage-time volley secured Reading three points at home to Preston. The American international then missed six weeks of the new year after damaging ankle ligaments, but he returned to action last weekend, and was on the scoresheet this Saturday with another excellent finish as the Royals won 3-1 against Birmingham City.
Birmingham left Jake Clarke-Salter on the bench after he played 90 midweek minutes away to Leicester City in the FA Cup, a challenge he acquitted himself well towards, despite a defeat.
England
Premier League
Aston Villa also play Leicester this coming Monday night, where Danny Drinkwater will be hoping to log some more playing time.
Championship
Conor Gallagher and Swansea City held then-league leaders West Brom to a goalless draw, allowing Leeds United to go top of the table, while Marc Guehi continues to spend some time out of the team. Trevoh Chalobah got ninety minutes for Huddersfield away to Leeds in a 2-0 defeat.
Wigan and Luton, two form teams in the battle to avoid relegation, shared a goalless draw in which Izzy Brown played ninety minutes for the visitors. Dujon Sterling is still unavailable for Wigan but, as this week’s episode of Life on Loan taught us, he’ll be back soon.
League One
Jamal Blackman was on the losing side as Bristol Rovers’ recent struggles continued in the form of a 3-1 defeat away to a young Southend United team. Not at fault for any of the goals, he in fact kept the scoreline more respectable. Burton Albion lost 3-2 at Lincoln City without the injured Richard Nartey.
League Two
Plymouth are still without the injured Josh Grant, as the Chelsea loanee missed two more matches over the past seven days, despite Argyle’s hopes of having him back at Home Park by now. He’s now due to restart training this coming week.
Spain
Kenedy saw twenty minutes from the bench as Getafe drew 0-0 with Celta Vigo. Baba Rahman is injured.
Italy
Atalanta vs Lazio was postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus situation in Italy, meaning no action for Mario Pašalić. Victor Moses is out through injury and missed Inter’s trip to Juventus.
Davide Zappacosta is injured.
Germany
Ethan Ampadu continues to be sidelined through a back problem at Leipzig.
France
There was an assist for Tiémoué Bakayoko as Monaco lost 2-1 to Nice on Saturday night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL5rX3ZfcXw
Netherlands
Juan Castillo played as a winger for the first time this season as Jong Ajax lost 4-0 to Volendam on Friday night. Usually a left-back, he moved forward but the entire team had a night to forget against one of the Eerste Divisie’s promotion challengers.
The division is still led by Cambuur, for whom George McEachran will be hoping to feature against Jong AZ on Monday night.
Iké Ugbo was held off the scoresheet as Roda went down 4-1 away to NAC Breda.
Belgium
Charlie Brown and Union SG had the weekend off as the Belgian second tier concluded their 2nd Stage fixtures last weekend. They now await the final round of Jupiler League top tier matches before the Europa League qualification playoffs get underway, where they’ll be in either Group B or C; the former sees them face three top-flight teams, the latter has just two as well as either Westerlo or Virton from the second tier.
Confused? You will be.
Portugal
Lucas Piazon played his part from start to (almost) finish as Rio Ave continued their good big-game record this season with a 1-1 draw at FC Porto. They’re in contention for a Europa League qualifying berth.
Scotland
Nathan Baxter’s recent spell on the bench saw Ross County lose 4-1 at Motherwell and 1-0 to Rangers. He’ll be pressing for a return to the team as soon as possible.
Brazil
Nathan played throughout as Atlético-MG beat Cruzeiro 2-1 with a 94th-minute winner from Romulo Otero.
Statistics
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