In the Championship in midweek, defender Jake Clarke-Salter turned provider at the other end of the pitch when Birmingham City hosted Swansea City, heading down a set-piece for Lukas Jutkiewicz to open the scoring for the Blues just five minutes in. However, it was two other Chelsea loanees who were celebrating at the final whistle, as Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi helped Swansea come back to win 3-1.

Gallagher did some providing of his own, as it was from his cross that the Rhian Brewster scored the equaliser, via a touch from Connor Roberts, on their way to recording back-to-back victories for the first time in 2020.

That win put Swansea right back in the frame for the Championship play-offs and they remain in contention for promotion despite a defeat to league leaders Leeds United on Sunday. Gallagher and Guehi were both in the starting line-up again, and they are now one point and one place behind Welsh rivals Cardiff City in the race for the final play-off spot with three games remaining.

There were mixed fortunes for Trevoh Chalobah and Huddersfield Town. There was a promising start to the week when they picked up an important point away at Reading, making it three games without losing and three consecutive clean sheets, but they then got sucked towards the relegation zone following a 2-0 defeat to Luton Town on Friday evening. That leaves the Terriers two points clear of the drop in an increasingly tight battle at the bottom of the Championship.

Reading and Luton were both missing their own Chelsea loan players, Matt Miazga and Izzy Brown, when they faced Huddersfield, but Miazga did return when the Hoops won 1-0 at Charlton Athletic, albeit as an unused substitute. Birmingham are two points further ahead after their loss to Stoke City, but Clarke-Salter missed that fixture.

The only one of our loanees in action on the continent was Lucas Piazon in the Portuguese top flight, who came off the bench for Rio Ave against Portimonense on Thursday before they scored an injury time winner to triumph 2-1, a victory which keeps them in fifth spot in the table.