Eight of West Ham United’s loanees were involved in a busy weekend of action at home and abroad.
James Ward-Prowse endured a dramatic afternoon as Nottingham Forest battled to a 1-1 draw away at Chelsea in the Premier League. The midfielder played 78 minutes before receiving a red card for a second bookable offence following a handball incident. Despite being reduced to ten men, Forest held on for the rest of the 90 as well as 13 long stoppage-time minutes to secure a valuable point at Stamford Bridge.
Maxwel Cornet, who played in Southampton’s south coast derby against Bournemouth last week, did not feature in the Saints’ 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium.
Nayef Aguerd made his fifth consecutive start in La Liga for Real Sociedad, who held title challengers Atlético Madrid to a 1-1 draw despite conceding in the first minute to former Manchester City striker Julián Álvarez. For the second weekend running, Moroccan centre-half Aguerd was denied a first goal by some remarkable goalkeeping; this time Jan Oblak making a fantastic double save to keep his side ahead. It would take a spectacular long range effort from Luka Sučić five minutes from time to rescue a point for Sociedad.
Kurt Zouma’s Al Orobah fell to a 3-0 defeat against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, who opened the scoring with an early penalty before Sadio Mané notched a brace to secure all three points for the home side.
Back in England, Freddie Potts continued to impress for Portsmouth in the EFL Championship, playing the full 90 minutes for the third consecutive game. Pompey will be disappointed not to have secured their first win of the campaign, having controlled most of the game. Despite earning an early penalty, saved by Jamie Cumming, and taking the lead through Mark O’Mahony in the second half, they had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to newly promoted Oxford United.
George Earthy made his long-awaited return from injury, coming off the bench for Bristol City in a 1-1 draw against Cardiff City. Earthy’s introduction was his first appearance since August, as he completed his recovery from an ankle issue.
In League One, Callum Marshall came agonisingly close to adding to his tally for Huddersfield Town in their 2-0 win over Barnsley. With the scores level, Marshall was remarkably close to breaking the deadlock in the latter stages of the first half. A close range effort was headed for the bottom corner before Barnsley defender Josh Earl made a timely intervention. Then on the subsequent corner, the ball was eventually worked to Ben Wiles who found Marshall in the box who made an excellent connection with a header only to be denied by goalkeeper Gabriel Słonina, on loan from Chelsea. Despite Marshall’s close calls, Huddersfield eventually claimed victory with goals from Wiles and David Kasumu, keeping them within touching distance of the Play-Off places.
Having made his first appearance for Bristol Rovers since August last Tuesday (1 October), as a second-half substitute in a 3-2 victory over Charlton Athletic, Michael Forbes was absent as the Gas defeated Burton Albion 3-1 on the road on Saturday.
And while Wycombe Wanderers extended their unbeaten run to seven games with a 1-0 win over Crawley Town, Gideon Kodua is yet to feature since their 2-2 draw with Blackpool just over a month ago.
In League Two, Patrick Kelly made his third fourth-tier start in a 3-0 win for Doncaster Rovers over Grimsby Town, which sees his side move up to fourth in the standings. Rovers now sit level on points with Walsall, Gillingham and Barrow, only separated by goal difference at the top of the ranks.
Levi Laing was an unused substitute as Cheltenham Town suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Barrow, while Mason Terry’s Hornchurch fell to a second consecutive defeat in the National League South, losing 3-1 to Dorking Wanderers.
In Scotland, Krisztián Hegyi remained on the bench as Motherwell edged out Hibernian 2-1 in the Scottish Premiership.
Finally, in Ligue 2, Mohamadou Kanté was not involved as Paris FC continued their fine form with a 1-0 win over Laval, keeping them top of the table and on course for a return to the French top flight for the first time since 1979.
