With Arsenal boosting their Premier League title credentials by beating Liverpool 3-2, it would have been easy to forget that Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka weren't the club's only standout performers across the weekend.
The Gunners' strength in depth, particularly at full-back, was highlighted as even without Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney in the starting line-up, Takehiro Tomiyasu showed his versatility to slot in rather effortlessly at left-back and limit the threat of Mohamed Salah.
Over the next month, Arsenal's squad will be stretched even further with games against Bodo/Glimt, Leeds United, PSV Eindhoven (twice), Southampton, Nottingham Forest, FC Zurich, Chelsea and Brighton on the horizon before the season pauses for the winter World Cup in Qatar.
READ MORE: Martinelli, Saka and Arteta’s biggest critics – Arsenal winners and losers after Liverpool win
With that in mind, Mikel Arteta will hand those on the fringes a chance to increase their playing time - which is something many of the Arsenal loan army will be hoping for next season and with that in mind football.london takes a look at how they got on this weekend.
After being dropped last weekend, Nicolas Pepe has provided the perfect response as he netted his second goal in as many games for Nice as he scored in a 3-2 win over Troyes, Pablo Mari opened his account for Monza as the Serie A newboys' recent revival continued against Spezia, although both players were out shadowed by Auston Trusty who scored twice as Birmingham beat Bristol City 3-0.
Sticking in France, Folarin Balogun showed his maturity by not getting involved in a melee as Reims held Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain to a goalless draw, whilst Nuno Tavares played the full 90 minutes as Marseille slumped to a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Ajaccio.
Rounding off the Gunners' first-team players out on loan, Arthur Okonkwo was in goal as Crewe Alexandra drew 1-1 with Gillingham, Runar Alex Runarsson also failed to keep a clean sheet as Alanyaspor were beaten 1-0 by Hatayspor, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles was an unused substitute as Southampton suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City.
It was a mixed weekend for several of Arsenal's youngsters in the Championship as Harry Clarke was a second half substitute as Stoke City beat Sheffield United 3-1, Charlie Patino earned an 8/10 rating from the Blackpool Gazette after playing a starring role in a victory over Watford, but Brooke Norton-Cuffy tasted defeat whilst in action for Rotherham at Blackburn and Salah-Eddine didn't feature in Hull City's 2-0 loss against Huddersfield Town.
In League One, Tyreece John-Jules played 76 minutes of Ipswich Town's 2-1 win over Morecambe - days after registering a goal and assist against Cambridge. For the third game in a row, Mazeed Ogungbo didn't make Crawley Town's matchday squad as they lost 3-0 at Grimsby Town, with the result leaving the Red Devils rock bottom of League Two. On a side note, former Arsenal Under 23 coach Kevin Betsy was sacked by Crawley on Sunday.
Tim Akinola was on the losing side in the National League as Chesterfield were beaten by Eastleigh, Tom Smith kept goal as Bromley drew 1-1 at home to Gateshead and Ovie Ejeheri kept a clean sheet and was named man-of-the-match as Chelsmford City beat Cheshunt.
Meanwhile, north of the border, Alex Kirk helped Ayr United thump Queen's Park 5-0 in the Scottish Championship and Ryan Alebiosu was a second half substitute in Kilmarnock's 2-2 draw with Hearts.
Arsenal have as many as five youngsters out on loan at clubs across Europe and Mika Biereth was the standout performer as he netted brace for RKC Waalwijk in their 3-2 win over Groningen. However, Marcelo Flores didn't feature for Real Oviedo, nor did Nikolaj Moller for Den Bosch, Omar Rekik played one minute of Sparta Rotterdam's 3-1 win over Emmen and Miguel Azeez was booked on his latest outing for Ibiza FC.
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