It has been a mixed week for several members of this season's Arsenal loan army.
For Omar Rekik, in particular, it was one to forget as he was sent off for two bookable offences before the half hour mark as Wigan Athletic were beaten 3-0 by Championship leaders Burnley and will now miss Tuesday night's home game against Coventry City through suspension.
Meanwhile, Runar Alex Runarsson was beaten twice as Alanyaspor lost away at Ankaragucu in the Turkish Super Lig and Marquinhos was unable to prevent Norwich City from losing 1-0 at home to Sunderland despite coming off the bench early in the second half.
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But it was a decent weekend for Auston Trusty. He helped Birmingham City return to winning ways and keep a clean sheet against Rotherham United, whilst Brooke Norton-Cuffy was something of a lucky charm for Coventry City as within minutes of his introduction the hosts equalised to earn a point against Hull City.
As per Premier League rules, Fulham loanee Cedric Soares was ineligible to face his parent club on Sunday afternoon and it was also a quiet weekend for several other Arsenal loanees as for one reason or another, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Charlie Patino, Mika Biereth, Marcelo Flores, Ryan Alebiosu, Alex Kirk, Miguel Azeez, Ovie Ejeheri, Nikolaj Moller, Tom Smith, Kido Taylor-Hart and Billy Vigar did not feature at all for their respective loan clubs over the past week.
Although, in the lower leagues of English football, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji came off the bench in Accrington Stanley's 3-0 loss against League One promotion-chasing Ipswich Town in midweek but was an unused substitute on his return to London as the visitors held Charlton Athletic to a 1-1 draw.
In League Two, Mazeed Ogungbo helped Crawley Town secure a massive win over Harrogate Town, Taylor Foran was nine minutes away from celebrating a clean sheet as Hartlepool United drew at home to Northampton, whilst Tim Akinola started both of Chesterfield's games in the past week - a 2-1 win over Southend United and the 1-1 draw with Yeovil Town.
Across Europe, Arthur Okonkwo started for Sturm Graz against Austria Vienna, it seems it's just a matter of time before Pablo Mari completes a permanent £5.9million transfer to Monza after they drew with Verona to move even further away from the Serie A relegation zone and Nuno Tavares was in the Marseille side that let a two-goal lead slip to draw with Strasbourg.
With that in mind, below football.london rounds up the big headlines regarding the remaining Arsenal loanees from the past seven days.
Lokonga 'betrayed'
Prior to Arsenal's 3-0 win over Fulham, Albert Sambi Lokonga had the chance to do his parent club a favour as Crystal Palace welcomed Manchester City to Selhurst Park in the late kick-off on Saturday. And for 77 minutes things were going to plan with Pep Guardiola's side struggling to find a breakthrough despite dominating possession.
However, all of the Eagles' good work was undone when Michael Olise fouled Ilkay Gundogan in the area and Erling Haaland tucked away the resulting penalty. In the end, whilst the Gunners responded to City's win, the needless foul left a bitter taste in the mouth of one supporter as @Sigli_A tweeted: "Michael Olise betrayed us and Sambi Lokonga."
Imminent Tyreece John-Jules and Nicolas Pepe returns
Tyreece John-Jules has been out of action since November with a hamstring injury, but the good news is that he is poised to make a return to full training this week and could prove to be a useful weapon as Ipswich look to earn promotion to the Championship either automatically or through the play-offs.
"Tyreece is working really hard with the fitness coaches and we’re hoping he can join in with the main group next week, so we’re in a healthy position," manager Kieran McKenna revealed ahead of his side's 2-0 win over Bolton.
And John-Jules isn't the only Arsenal loanee closing in on a return to action as Nicolas Pepe was back in full training for Nice ahead of their 2-2 draw against Nantes. Understandably, having been sidelined since the end of January with a knee injury, it's no surprise that Sunday's game came too soon for the winger to be involved, but there's a chance he could get some minutes in the final two fixtures before the international break.
"We are very happy with his week," head coach Didier Digard said. "He responded very well to everything that was proposed to him. He did the full training session yesterday (Friday) even though it wasn't necessarily planned. The Nantes game comes too soon given the long period of absence and the lack of training with us, but it's good news for the upcoming matches."
Balogun responds to Mbappe
The drought is over. After three games without a goal, Folarin Balogun was on target once again for Reims as he netted the winner against AS Monaco. And in doing so he's back to within three of Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David (19) in the Ligue 1 Golden Boot race.
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