Surgery for Zappacosta

There was bad news from abroad at the end of the week came from AS Roma who announced that our on-loan left-back, Davide Zappacosta, had suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee during training. An earlier injury had limited the player to just a couple of appearances for the Serie A side.

Loan news from England

It was a busy week in England’s second tier ahead of the international break, with a full round of midweek fixtures ahead of this weekend’s matches.

Although Conor Gallagher (pictured above) was on the losing side for Charlton Athletic in midweek against leaders Swansea City, our young midfielder got on the scoresheet just up the road from Stamford Bridge as he opened the scoring with a smart finish in a 2-2 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage this weekend.

A day after Huddersfield Town boss Danny Cowley insisted ‘he is going to be a top, top player’, Trevoh Chalobah produced another fine performance as the Terriers made it back-to-back wins to move out of the Championship drop zone with a 3-0 win over Hull City. That followed a midweek win at Stoke City in which the midfielder played for 73 minutes.

They are level with Reading, who occupy the last relegation spot, on eight points after Matt Miazga was unable to stop them slipping to a 1-0 defeat at Bristol City.

Izzy Brown came on just after the hour in Luton’s 2-0 defeat against Derby, which came a few days after he had started the Hatters’ 1-1 draw with Millwall. Completing our round-up of Championship loanees, Jake Clarke-Salter played 83 minutes of Birmingham’s defeat at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night

Dropping down to League One, Richard Nartey helped Burton keep a clean sheet in an impressive 3-0 win at MK Dons, which was a fine response to their EFL Trophy defeat at home to Everton in midweek, when the defender came on as a substitute.

In League Two, Josh Grant came off the bench late on for Plymouth, but they conceded an equaliser deep into stoppage time in a 2-2 draw against Scunthorpe United.

Around Europe

After impressing as a substitute in Getafe’s fightback against Valencia the previous week, Kenedy was selected from the start of their Europa League win over Krasnodar, rewarding Jose Bordalas’ faith in him by assisting the opening goal. They sit top of Group C after two matches. The Brazilian then came off the bench in a 2-1 comeback victory away at 10-man Real Sociedad on Sunday evening in La Liga.

Tiemoue Bakayoko started for Monaco at Montpellier, but it was in a losing cause after back-to-back victories as they fell to a 3-1 defeat in Ligue 1.

Mario Pasalic and Atalanta faced Shakhtar Donetsk in their first home game in the Champions League, albeit at the San Siro in Milan as their Stadio Atleti Azzurri is undergoing renovation to meet UEFA standards.

The Croatian midfielder was involved in their opener as he hit the post in the build-up, but ultimately a stoppage-time concession denied them a first point in the competition. They returned to winning ways in Serie A with a 3-1 victory over Lecce to keep them third, although the 24-year-old was an unused substitute.

Ike Ugbo continued his good form for Roda JC, netting for a second week running in the Dutch second tier as they beat Telstar 2-1. There was an even bigger win for Juan Castillo and Ajax’s Under-21s in that division as they thrashed FC Eindhoven 6-0.

In the Bundesliga, Lewis Baker played 71 minutes of Fortuna Dusseldorf’s 3-1 defeat at Hertha Berlin, who had former Chelsea Champions League winner Salomon Kalou on the bench.

Nathan started the week on the losing side in Brazil as Atletico Mineiro fell 2-1 at home to Vasco De Gama. However, it was the forward’s goal that earned them an away point four days later at second-placed Palmeiras.