Matthew Pennington (Ipswich Town)
The youngster switched from centre-back to right-back for Ipswich in their 0-0 draw against Bolton, and looked slightly shaky on the ball, but defended well enough until Bolton had a man sent off, and the game settled down.
Luke Garbutt (Oxford United)
Following his recall last week, Garbutt retained his place in the side for both the 1-2 loss to Walsall and the 0-3 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup. Garbutt was booked in stoppage time in the former, unable to prevent the two away goals, and was booked again in the first half of the latter affair, but arguably had his best game for Oxford against City in midweek despite losing 3-0. He was reliable when called upon in individual battles, and did plenty of running for his team.
Antonee Robinson and Callum Connolly (Wigan Athletic)
The pair both played on Friday night in a 1-0 win against Bristol City, with Robinson nearly caught out early on after a poor backpass nearly gifted a goal to Andreas Weimann. He got up and down the left well for the remainder of the affair, though, with Connolly coming off the bench for the most of the second half but unable to affect a scrappy game by that point.
Ashley Williams and Cuco Martina (Stoke City)
Stoke suffered a couple of 3-2 defeats this week; the first of which Cuco Martina played 90 minutes and was booked in what wasn’t a great defensive day for the Potters against Blackburn Rovers, but Martina got involved down the wing several times, blazing a good chance over the bar on one occasion.
It was a reshuffled team that faced Nottingham Forest away in the cup, with Cuco dropping to the bench and Ashley Williams coming in at centre-back having sat out the last few games since his suspension. Williams had a chance to put himself in the starting eleven for the weekend following a rather shoddy performance from Stoke’s other centre-backs against Blackburn. However, he wasn’t completely convincing in a defence which shipped another three goals, and perhaps missed that chance.
Muhamed Besic (Middlesbrough)
Besic lost his place in Tony Pulis’ team to George Saville for the 0-0 draw with Swansea City, but replaced him after an hour as Saville had been booked. The Bosnian managed to get a few shots away to try and break the deadlock, but had no luck.
He wasn’t involved in the cup squad in midweek, as Pulis put out a much-changed side who drew 2-2 with Preston North End.
Yannick Bolasie (Aston Villa)
Yannick, Yannick Bolasie, ran down the wing for twenty minutes after replacing Jonathan Kodjia. He got a few crosses in, but was unable to prevent a 1-2 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday after he was brought on straight after their second goal.
Joe Williams (Bolton Wanderers)
The young midfielder was back on his game against Ipswich away, covering plenty of ground and tackling impressively. He played 90 minutes of the aforementioned 0-0 draw.
Henry Onyekuru (Galatasaray)
Onyekuru started up front for Galatasaray against Akhisarspor, but his team lost the game 3-0. He didn’t have many chances in front of goal, often drifting out to the right to try and find more luck, but unfortunately to no avail.
Nikola Vlasic (CSKA Moscow)
Vlasic continued his fine form for CSKA Moscow with another goal against rivals Spartak Moscow in a 1-1 draw, and also another man of the match performance. Vlasic has really found his feet during this loan spell so far playing in a midfield three supported by wing-backs, and it is wonderful to see him blossom as a player.
Kevin Mirallas (Fiorentina)
Mirallas finally found his way into the Viola team, and played 90 minutes on the left wing. He was arguably his team’s brightest player, hitting the post early on in what was an unlucky 2-1 defeat, proving a creative outlet throughout.
Shani Tarashaj (Grasshoppers)
The Swiss forward was again out of the squad for his team’s 0-2 defeat to Thun last weekend.
Sandro Ramirez (Real Sociedad)
Sandro continued his recovery after suffering an injury in training a couple weeks ago. He watched his team draw 2-2 with Rayo Vallecano.
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