The past week has not been a good one for Arsenal. In the space of six days their Champions League hopes appear to have gone from nailed on to very slim thanks to two losses to Crystal Palace and Brighton, while Tottenham have wracked up emphatic wins against Newcastle and Aston Villa.
To make matters worse Kieran Tierney has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee problem, while there is a possibility Thomas Partey could join him in missing the rest of the campaign after damaging his thigh. Takehiro Tomiyasu is also out for at least another week as he continues to recover from a calf problem.
With this in mind it's important for Gunners fans to take positives where they can get them at the moment. With that in mind their 22-strong loan army may be a good place to look. Here football.london takes a look at how they got on in their matches across the globe this weekend.
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Before taking a look at those who did play this weekend, it's worth taking a quick look at those who weren't involved.
In Serie A two Arsenal players missed out, but for very different reasons. Lucas Torreira is enjoying a fine time out in Italy with Fiorentina and wasn't recently named their player of the month. He missed out on this weekend's 3-2 win over Napoli due to a suspension for picking up too many yellow cards however. Things have not worked out anywhere near as well for Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The England international was an unused substitute for the sixth Serie A game in a row as he struggles to make an impact for Jose Mourinho's side.
Goalkeeper Tom Smith has not featured in around two months for Welling United and was absent again for their 4-2 loss to Ebsfleet this weekend. Ryan Alebiosu also missed out for Crewe Alexandra who confirmed that he is set to miss the rest of the season after having surgery on an injury. Dundee and Sheffield Wednesday's respective managers have also revealed that Tim Akinola and Tyreece John-Jules are unlikely to play again before the season is over after picking up injury problems of their own.
Brooke Norton-Cuffy was also absent in Lincoln City's 3-1 defeat to League One leaders Wigan Athletic. Unlike his fellow youngsters the highly rated full back's injury is not thought to be serious, and he is expected to be back available again for Lincoln's Friday night clash with Portsmouth.
It was a mixed bag for the rest of Arsenal's youngsters on loan in the UK.
Daniel Ballard played the full 90 for Millwall as they secured their first win in five courtesy of a 4-1 victory over Barnsley, while Matt Smith helped Doncaster claim their first success in seven up against Crewe.
However, there were less positive results for some others. On just his second start for Hibernian, Harry Clarke, playing as a left wing back despite being right footed and having spent much of his career at centre-back, managed to grab an assist in what was ultimately a 3-1 defeat to Hearts. Folarin Balogun started for Middlesbrough in their Championship clash against Hull City, but was taken off during a 1-0 defeat that seriously dent's Boro's playoff hopes, while Jordi Osei-Tutu came off the bench in Rotherham's 1-0 loss to Charlton.
Across the rest of the globe though things were generally more positive for the Gunners loan army.
Nikolaj Moller came off the bench to score his second goal of his loan spell for FC Den Bosch in their 3-0 Eerstdivisie win over FC Dordrecht. Elsewhere in Holland Reiss Nelson was able to grab a goal and an assist for Feyenoord as they thumped Heracles 4-1 win. It's the continuation of a great run for Nelson who has now started four games in a row as he seeks to help Feyenoord secure Europa League qualification.
William Saliba and Matteo Guendouzi both played the full match as Marseille claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Montpellier that keeps them well on course for Champions League qualification ahead of their massive clash with PSG next week. Pablo Mari meanwhile returned from suspension to help Udinese secure a 2-1 win over Venezia as I Friulani continue their impressive run of just two defeats in 10 games since the Spaniard's arrival.
Dinos Mavropanos meanwhile had probably one of the toughest tests in European football right now as he went up against Erling Haaland in Stuttgart's Bundesliga clash with Borussia Dortmund. Mavropanos managed to keep the Norwegian quiet but Julian Brandt popped up with a double to help ensure a 2-0 defeat for Die Schwaben's that takes them perilously close to the relegation zone. football.london understands that there is no relegation clause in the Greek international's move to Stuttgart, and he is still set to join them on a permanent basis this summer regardless of what division they are playing in.
There were also defeats for Auston Trusty for the Colorado Rapids in their MLS clash with FC Dallas and Jordan McEneff as Shelborne lost 2-0 to Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland.
