There were contrasting experiences for many members of the Arsenal loan army as some played their final game before the World Cup break.
Following a busy summer of transfer activity conducted by Mikel Arteta and Edu, the Gunners have as many as 24 players - across the first-team and academy set-up - spending the campaign away from the club to either put themselves in the shop window for a future move or to aid their development by playing senior football.
If things go to plan, the loan system can be a pathway to earning a chance under the Arsenal manager next season, as proven by William Saliba since returning from Marseille and he's certainly an example to follow. With that in mind football.london takes a look at how the loan army fared over the weekend.
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It was a mixed few days for Ainsley Maitland-Niles as after cooly scoring his penalty in Southampton's shoot-out win over Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, he was a second half substitute in new manager Nathan Jones' first game in charge which ended in a 3-1 loss away at Liverpool.
Pablo Mari is still recovering after being discharged from the hospital following surgery to reconstruct damaged back muscles after being injured in a supermarket stabbing in Milan last month so he watched on from the sidelines as AC Monza beat Salernitana 3-0 at home.
Nuno Tavares played the full 90 minutes as Marseille left it late to beat Monaco. Although it was two former Arsenal players that overshadowed the loanee as Alexis Sanchez broke the deadlock with a brilliant free-kick before Sead Kolasniac headed home a last-minute winner.
Staying in France, Nicolas Pepe was grateful to VAR as he converted his penalty at the second time of asking as Nice drew 1-1 with Lyon after Alexandre Lacazette denied his former teammate by netting a spot-kick of his own, whilst Folarin Balogun played the final half hour of Reims' draw at Montpellier.
Both Arthur Okonkwo and Runar Alex Runarsson kept clean sheets for Crewe and Alanyaspor respectively. After missing out on a place in the USMNT World Cup squad, Auston Trusty's Birmingham City were beaten at home by Sunderland, whilst a Stoke City side featuring Harry Clarke lost away at West Brom.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Charlie Patino claimed an assist but Blackpool were beaten by Wigan Athletic, Brooke Norton-Cuffy was yellow carded as Rotherham conceded a last minute equaliser against Luton Town and once again Salah-Eddine didn't feature as Hull City lost at home to Reading.
Tyreece John-Jules missed Ipswich Town's 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham and it has been confirmed that he is facing a spell on the sidelines: "Tyreece has a hamstring injury and is under specialist review at the moment as to whether it needs surgical repair," manager Kieran McKenna revealed. "It’s quite a major tear which is also very disappointing."
Not for the first time in recent weeks, Mazeed Ogungbo was left out of the Crawley Town squad that beat Barrow to move up to 18th in the League Two table, whilst in the National League, Tim Akinola helped Chesterfield record an impressive 5-1 win away at Torquay United and Tom Smith was in goal as Bromley drew 1-1 with Halifax Town.
Ovie Ejeheri was beaten twice as Chelmsford City lost at home to Hampton & Richmond Borough. North of the border, Ryan Alebiosu missed Kilmarnock's win over Hibernian and Alex Kirk helped Ayr United beat Hamilton to maintain their three-point lead at the top of the Scottish Championship.
Arsenal have as many as five youngsters out on loan at clubs across Europe - mainly in the Netherlands - but Mika Biereth didn't play as RKC Waalwijk were thrashed 6-1 away at NEC. Omar Rekik was back in the Sparta Rotterdam matchday squad for the 1-1 draw with Twente after missing a few games with a muscle injury but his return to fitness hasn't been enough to earn him a place in the Tunisia World Cup squad.
Lastly, Nikolaj Moller scored a brace for Den Bosch in a 4-4 draw against Jong Ajax on Monday evening, whilst in Spain, there was Copa del Rey action as Marcelo Flores started Real Oviedo's 3-2 win over Gimnastica and Miguel Azeez started Ibiza FC's 2-0 win over Cristo Atletico.
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