It was a weekend to forget for Sam Ricketts as he captained Wolves to a 5-0 defeat at Derby County. James Chester was part of Hull side which lost to Burnley but, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Welsh defenders .

Neil Taylor gave his best performance of the season against Arsenal. He defended brilliantly and linked effectively with Jefferson Montero going forward. Taylor finding form could be a real boost for Wales especially with Ben Davies’ lack of game time at Tottenham.

Ashley Williams seems to be mentioned every week but he was solid once again. He scared many Welsh fans when he went down after just two minutes but luckily he got up, recovered and was only caught out by a terrific break from Arsenal late on in an impressive win for the Swans.

Last weeks’ top performer, Paul Dummett, recorded another clean sheet for Newcastle. This time it came in a 2-0 away win at West Bromwich Albion.

James Collins ensured another clean sheet for a Welsh defender as his West Ham team could only manage a goalless draw at home to Aston Villa.

Chris Coleman has named Adam Matthews in his latest squad and he enters international week on a positive note. He took part in a 2-1 win at Aberdeen despite Celtic being down to 10 men for a large part of the game at Pittodrie.

Joel Lynch scored again from defence for Huddersfield Town but they eventually went down 3-1 to Fulham on Saturday afternoon.

Wales’ midfielders’ week was not as positive as their defensive teammates. Aaron Ramsey was on the receiving end of the 2-1 score line at the Liberty Stadium while Andy King was part of Leicester team who lost at Southampton. Joe Allen also played the last 20 minutes in Liverpool’s 2-1 home loss to Chelsea.

Jonny Williams may have picked up three points with Ipswich but it came at a great cost. He also picked up an injury in terrible challenge by Watford’s Joel Ekstrand and will now miss the Belgium game.

A sight that no doubt pleased all Welsh fans was Gareth Bale’s return to action on Tuesday night in the Champions League. He marked his first start back with a goal after just nine minutes coming back from missing five league games. This started the ball rolling for the Galacticos as Real Madrid dispatched Rayo Vallecano 5-1.

There were also a couple of notable performances in the Championship. Craig Davies produced a strong performance against Cardiff City in Bolton Wanderers’ midweek win and then scored on Saturday to help defeat Wigan Athletic 3-1. Davies has not featured for Wales since the 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland back in 2013. David Cotterill produced the cross to set up a late winner for Birmingham against Watford on Tuesday.

A special mention has to go the Wales under 16s who have now made it two wins from two in the Victory Shield. After defeating England in Bangor they have now sunk Scotland in St Johnstone. Swansea City’s Liam Cullen scored both goals for Osian Roberts team in their 2-1 win. Wales could clinch the shield outright for the first time since 1948-9 against Northern Ireland on 20 November in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Welsh performance of the week – Tom Bradshaw

Tom Bradshaw scored two goals against his former club Shrewsbury to ensure a second round replay for Walsall. After 90 minutes of abuse from the fans that used sing his name and enduring chants of “Bradshaw, what’s the score?” he fired his second goal of the game in the final minute to silence the Shrews. He has now fired nine goals in 14 appearances, with four coming in his last three appearances for the Saddlers.