None of our players out on-loan, bar Jack Wilshere and Takuma Asano, started for their respective sides across the European leagues on Saturday.

Glen Kamara came on as a first-half substitute after an injury was picked up by attacking midfielder, Sammie Szmodics, otherwise he would’ve probably been lucky to feature at all as Colchester United were held to a 1-1 draw away against Barnet.

They remain in the promotion play-off places (6th) with eight games played, but Kamara will be hoping for more minutes in the coming weeks – especially as his future with Arsenal is still uncertain, and his current deal expires next summer.

Fullback Tafari Moore was a second-half sub during Utrecht’s 5-1 home defeat at the hands of FC Groningen. The 19-year-old right-back came on with just over 20 minutes to play and was unable to help conjure up a spirited comeback, with the majority of the damage already inflicted.

Moore featured in the second-half, a fortnight after being invited to train with England's senior side on international duty. | Photo: Alex Morton / Getty Images
Moore featured in the second-half against Groningen, a fortnight after being invited to train with England’s senior side on international duty. | Photo: Alex Morton / Getty Images

Kelechi Nwakali came on as a last-minute sub with MVV Maastricht holding onto a slender one-goal lead against Jong Ajax. Stefan O’Connor was left on the bench during the fixture, and neither will be particularly pleased with the lack of first-team minutes they’ve had between them in recent weeks.

Joel Campbell (Sporting) and Wojciech Szczesny (Roma) are both expected to feature from the start in their matches on Sunday against Rio Ave and Fiorentina respectively – but the majority of youngsters were either left on the substitutes’ bench or didn’t make the matchday squad.

Ryan Huddart, Daniel Crowley, Julio Pleguezuelo and Jon Toral all didn’t feature: which will raise questions as to whether their respective loan spells are genuinely beneficial, or if they could potentially be better spent elsewhere.