There were more minutes for Arsenal’s crop of talent, both senior and youth, players currently out on-loan across Europe.
ENGLAND
Calum Chambers and Jack Wilshere both played the full 90 minutes for their respective sides as Middlesbrough beat Bournemouth 2-0 in one of Saturday’s lunchtime fixtures.
Chambers was defensively excellent whilst Wilshere continued to show signs of progression following his deadline day switch.
Dan Crowley was afforded a start in a holding midfield role and awarded the Man of the Match award for his performance, but was unable to stop Oxford United from losing 2-1 at home against Millwall.
Glen Kamara was once more an unused substitute as Colchester United lost 2-1 against Plymouth Argle. The midfielder, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Friday, has only played 83 minutes of League Two football this term.
Despite keeping a clean sheet last time out, Ryan Huddart was not rewarded with another starting berth – instead Ryan Clarke began in-between the posts during Eastleigh’s 3-0 home win over Torquay United in the National League.
NETHERLANDS
Kelechi Nwakali was afforded another cameo appearance for MVV Maastricht against FC Volendam, coming on for the last 13 minutes plus stoppages. He was unable to have much impact though, and the hosts were ultimately left with nothing after Bert Steltenpool’s 87th-minute winner.
Stefan O’Connor wasn’t involved in the matchday squad for the fixture itself, whilst Tafari Moore came on after 58 minutes for FC Utrecht’s second-string team but they lost 1-0 away from home.
SPAIN
Jon Toral made his first senior appearance since mid-August, starting in Granada’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of La Liga holders Barcelona. Operating as one of two central midfielders, alongside Uche Henry Agbo (on-loan from Watford), the Spaniard played 76 minutes before being replaced by Sergi Samper.
PORTUGAL
In one of Friday’s fixtures, Sporting were held to a goalless draw against Nacional. Joel Campbell came on as a second-half substitute in place of Bryan Ruiz with 25 minutes to play, but didn’t have much impact off the bench.
Wojciech Szczesny (Roma), Takuma Asano (VfB Stuttgart) and Julio Plegueuzelo (Mallorca) could all feature in the remainder of the weekend’s fixtures across European competition.