It was a rather quiet weekend for Arsenal with no FA Cup game on the agenda. Gunners fans won’t have to wait too much longer for Mikel Arteta’s men to return to the pitch, however, as they take on PSV in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Tuesday evening.
Even those Arsenal players currently playing their football away from the club had a very quiet weekend with only a couple of loan stars in action. Fabio Vieira was one of them and he enjoyed a rather good week for Porto back in his native Portugal, but players such as Reiss Nelson and Albert Sambi Lokonga could only watch on with injury keeping them on the sidelines.
So how exactly did everyone fare for their respective clubs? football.london takes a look at Arsenal’s eight loan players below:
Fabio Vieira (Porto)
Vieira sent a timely reminder to all at Arsenal with two goals for Porto over the past week. Firstly hosting Vitoria Guimaraes last Monday, the midfielder opened the scoring in the 67th minute of the 1-1 draw at Estadio do Dragao.
Vieira’s goal was certainly worth the wait as he found the far corner of the goal with a brilliant curling effort from inside the penalty area. He then followed it up with another goal on Saturday as Porto won 2-0 away at Arouca.
It was another eye-catching strike from the Arsenal man as he raced towards the penalty box before unleashing a stinging drive that flew into the bottom corner of Joao Valido’s goal. Vieira will be looking to make it three goals in three games when Porto host fourth-place Braga on Saturday evening.
Following the decision to allow the 24-year-old to depart on loan this season after two frustrating seasons at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal are going to have a transfer decision to make over Vieira as they plan for the future. He has four goals and four assists in 30 appearances in all competitions this campaign.
Nuno Tavares (Lazio)
After a 2-0 Coppa Italia defeat away at Inter Milan on Tuesday evening, Nuno Tavares and Lazio returned to the San Siro on Sunday evening and claimed a late 2-1 win over AC Milan. Pedro’s penalty in the 98th minute proved to be the difference between the sides after Samuel Chukwueze had netting a late equaliser for the hosts following Mattia Zaccagni’s opener in the first half.
Tavares, who came off the bench to play 29 minutes in midweek, played the full 90 minutes against AC as Lazio kept up their push for a top-four finish. It’s set to be a busy week for the Rome-based club as they travel to Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on Thursday night before hosting Udinese in the league next Monday.
Karl Hein (Real Valladolid)
After shipping seven goals in Real Valladolid’s heavy defeat against Athletic Club last weekend, the La Liga side registered a 1-1 draw at home to Las Palmas on Friday evening. Ex-Everton man Sandro Ramirez netted the opening goal past Hein, with Juanmi Latasa restoring parity just past the hour mark against ten-man Las Palmas.
Certainly a missed opportunity against a fellow relegation rival, Valladolid remain rock bottom and eight points adrift of Las Palmas in 17th. Valladolid have another huge game on the agenda this weekend when they travel to relegation-threatened Valencia.
Marquinhos (Cruzeiro)
Marquinhos was not in action over the weekend as Cruzeiro’s next fixture comes against Mirassol at the end of March.
Reiss Nelson (Fulham)
Nelson could only watch on as Fulham set up an FA Cup quarter-final showdown at home to Crystal Palace after they beat Manchester United on penalties on Sunday evening. The 25-year-old has been absent since the start of December with a hamstring injury and underwent surgery last month.
Fulham boss Marco Silva mentioned ten days ago that the Arsenal loanee could potentially be out until the end of the season.
Albert Sambi Lokonga (Sevilla)
Lokonga also played no part for Sevilla in their 1-1 draw away at Rayo Vallecano as he remains out with a hamstring injury. The midfielder last appeared for the side from Andalusia against Getafe at the start of February.
Maldini Kacurri (Bromley)
Maldini Kacurri was another one on the long list of players who did not play at the weekend. The youngster was not part of the squad for Saturday’s 1-0 win away at AFC Wimbledon, meaning he still only has one appearance to his name for the League Two club since making the switch to Hayes Lanes Stadium.
Brian Okonkwo (Hitchin Town)
Brian Okonkwo also didn’t feature at the weekend as he was not part of the Hitchin Town squad for their 1-1 draw away at Stratford Town.
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
