AROUND THE UK

Danny Drinkwater made his bow for Aston Villa after ending his Burnley loan switch and moving to another side in claret and blue for the remainder of the season, but it was a day to forget for the midfielder and his new team-mates.

This was Drinkwater’s fourth appearance since March 2018 and, remarkably, four of his past five matches at first-team level have come against Manchester City, each of them ending in defeat. The latest of those was on Sunday, a 6-1 loss at Villa Park, and he lost possession for the second of City’s goals. His debut for his new club lasted 79 minutes before he made way for Henri Lansbury.

In the Championship, Marc Guehi will have to wait to appear for Swansea City, who he joined last week, as he remained on the bench throughout the Swans’ goalless draw in the South Wales derby against Cardiff, but there was action for three of our other loanees in the second tier.

It was an eventful Saturday afternoon for Charlton Athletic at the Valley, as with Conor Gallagher in their midfield the Addicks twice came from behind to hold leaders West Bromwich Albion to a 2-2 draw. Jake Clarke-Salter played the full 90 minutes as Birmingham City ended their six-game winless run with a 2-1 victory against bottom of the table Luton Town, but Trevoh Chalobah and Huddersfield Town were on the wrong end of that scoreline against Barnsley.

OVERSEAS INVOLVEMENT

Lucas Piazon (pictured top) was the hero for Rio Ave when he netted his first goal for the Portuguese club in a 1-0 win at Santa Clara. It was the second time in a week the Brazilian played the full 90 minutes, having previously featured for just 50 minutes in the first half of the league campaign, and he responded with a fantastic low strike from outside the box which settled the contest.

Mario Pasalic helped Atalanta to a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Inter Milan which puts a dent in the Nerazzurri’s Scudetto bid, a result which came a few days after the Croatian midfielder had remained on the bench throughout his side’s 5-0 victory over Parma.

On Sunday night in France, Tiemoue Bakayoko played for Monaco at PSG as he his side came from behind to draw 3-3 at the league leaders.

In Spain, Baba Rahmann made his first appearance for Real Mallorca since September and he lasted the full 90 minutes as his side won 1-0 at Zamora in the second round of the Copa Del Rey.

There was drama in the Dutch second tier in the first round of action of 2020, as Ike Ugbo netted a stoppage-time equaliser for Roda against MVV Maastrich. With 88 minutes played the score was 2-0 to the visitors, but two goals after the clock ticked past 90 earned a point for Roda.