Ruben Loftus-Cheek played 70 minutes of Crystal Palace’s 3-2 defeat at home to Arsenal last Thursday but the midfielder did not feature in their two most recent matches, last night’s win at Southampton and the weekend draw against Manchester City.

Tammy Abraham played the first hour as Swansea came from behind to beat Watford on Saturday before sitting out last night’s home defeat against Tottenham.

Having been ineligible to feature for Stoke at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Kurt Zouma was restored to their starting line-up for Monday’s game at home to Newcastle which they lost 1-0.

Izzy Brown missed Brighton’s goalless draw at Newcastle on Saturday before playing the final few minutes of their 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth on New Year’s Day.

In the Championship, Ola Aina (top image), Fikayo Tomori and Michael Hector have all been heavily involved for Hull over a busy period. The trio started Monday’s 1-0 defeat at Bolton having all played the full game as Nigel Adkins’s side drew 2-2 at home to Fulham on Saturday after leading 2-0.

Tomas Kalas and Lucas Piazon were both involved in that game for Fulham, with the Brazilian coming off the bench as he eases himself back into the fold after recently returning from a broken ankle. Piazon came off the bench once again last night as the Cottagers secured a comfortable 4-1 victory over Ipswich.

Jeremie Boga started for Birmingham last night as they recorded an impressive 2-0 win at Reading to move off the bottom of the Championship table, and the French youngster produced an impressive display in their 1-0 win against Leeds on Saturday before being withdrawn with 13 minutes remaining.

In League One, Jay Dasilva played two full games for Charlton over the New Year period, starting with a 0-0 draw away at Wigan on Friday and concluding with a 2-1 home defeat by Gillingham. Charlton are ninth.

Jordan Houghton continues to impress for Doncaster who are two places lower, with the midfielder starting their past two matches, a 1-1 draw at Peterborough on Monday and last Friday’s 2-0 win at home to Rochdale.

In League Two, Bradley Collins featured for Forest Green Rovers as they suffered consecutive defeats, against Lincoln City and Wycombe.

In the National League, Woking were beaten 2-1 by Aldershot on Monday after drawing 2-2 at Eastleigh on Saturday, with Nathan Baxter starting both matches.

Jared Thompson, meanwhile, was part of the Chippenham Town side who lost 2-1 at home to Hungerford on Monday.



The days ahead

Following on from tonight’s game at Arsenal, the first team are next in action in their fourth competition of the season, opening the FA Cup campaign away at Norwich, a game that is live on BT Sport at 5.30pm.

Earlier in the day, the Academy begin action for 2018 with two away fixtures - the Under-18s at Reading at 11am and the development squad playing Swansea at 2pm.

Chelsea Ladies resume in the WSL on Sunday, with a big home game against Arsenal, kicking off at Kingsmeadow at 1.30pm and live on BT Sport.