Needless to say, Arsenal suffered another bad loss over the weekend. A 2- disappointment to Watford ended the north London side’s hopes of winning a third successive, FA Cup while at the other end of the scale, Arsenal’s youth team progressed into the FA Youth cup semi-final after beating Liverpool, ready to take on Manchester City.
Arsene Wenger, moreover recently spoke about the potential for Arsenal to have golden generation coming through.
Arsenal currently have 11 players out on loan, many of whom are academy graduates such as Chuba Akpom, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Isaac Hayden.
Jon Toral continues to impress at Birmingham City, while Gedion Zelalem has been very impressive for Rangers – albeit his game time has dropped as of late. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, however has found it hard to break into Wolverhampton’s squad. Matthieu Debuchy has also been unlucky with injury, and has not played for a few games.
With all this considered, let’s have a look at the games that took place between 8th-13th March.
Jon Toral (BIRMINGHAM CITY)
Jon Toral has been one of the most impressive players on loan since the turn of the year.
The young Spaniard, however could not stop Birmingham from losing to Blackburn. Toral also played the full 90 minutes against Wolves, but wasted a crucial chance, meaning that Birmingham drew 0-0.
Wojciech Szczęsny (AS ROMA)
As is usual, the young Pole played the full 90 minutes in Roma’s 2-1 win over Udinese in Serie A at the weekend.
Szczesny also played the full 90 minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League, but could not stop Madrid scoring two goals.
Chuba Akpom & Isaac Hayden (HULL CITY)
Both players were cup tied for Hull’s FA Cup replay against Arsenal. Both, however, started Hull’s game against MK Dons – Hayden was substituted in the second half, while Akpom failed to score over 90 minutes.
Glen Kamara (Southend United)
After being unable to break into Southend’s team over the last few weeks, Kamara played 87 minutes in the 2-0 win over Barnsley in League One.
Wellington Silva (BOLTON WANDERERS)
Wellington Silva came on as a 91st minute substitute as Bolton scraped a draw against Ipswich last Tuesday.
The young Brazilian was an unused substitute in Bolton’s 2-1 loss to Preston North End at the weekend.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (IPSWICH TOWN)
Maitland-Niles came on as an 88th minute substitute in Ipswich’s 1-0 loss to Cardiff City in the Championship.
He also came on as a 70th minute replacement in Ipswich’s 2-2 draw with Bolton. Maitland-Niles provided the free kick to which Christophe Berra scored.
Gedion Zelalem (RANGERS)
Zelalem did not make the squad for Rangers’ 3-1 win over Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship. After an impressive first half of the season, Zelalem has found game time hard to come by in 2016.
Emiliano Martinez (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS)
Martinez was once again unused in Wolves’ games against Birmingham and Bristol City.
Mathieu Debuchy (FC Bordeaux)
The French full-back still remains out due to injury, and missed Bordeaux’s 4-0 loss to Toulouse.
Yaya Sanogo (CHARLTON ATHLETIC)
After a great start to his loan spell with Charlton, Sanogo came on as a 58 minute substitute in Charlton’s 0-0 draw with MK Dons. The French striker, however, was sent off for elbowing Anthony Kay.
Subsequently, the young striker was suspended for Charlton’s 2-0 win over Middlesbrough.