Arsenal defenders Daniel Ballard and Mark McGuinness helped their loan clubs to clean sheets on Tuesday, with a couple of positive individual performances.

Blackpool loanee Daniel Ballard made his first League One start in five games on Tuesday, following a red-card suspension and a couple of subsequent matches on the bench.

The centre-back won his way back into the league starting lineup with an FA Cup clean sheet on Saturday.

Facing Portsmouth this time around, Ballard helped secure three points and another clean sheet. He made three clearances, three interceptions, two tackles, and even created a chance at the other end in another impressive performance.

You only need one look at the replies to Ballard’s latest tweet to see what the Blackpool fans think of him. Most of them are already begging him to extend his loan to the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Mark McGuinness also helped secure a clean sheet for Ipswich Town away to Oxford United. The circumstances were somewhat different, with many Ipswich fans disappointed in their attacking performance on the night, but McGuinness did his job.

It wasn’t as if the defender had an easy ride. He made six clearances, blocked two shots, made four interceptions and one tackle, so he was certainly busy. The fans can take some comfort in the fact that they avoided defeat, at least.

As long as their teams aren’t letting goals in, you’d imagine the two centre-backs will keep getting games.