Foxy’s Arsenal Loan Watch

With the World Cup now in full swing, domestic footballing activity is at a low ebb.

However, there have been a scattering of appearances over the week to report, mostly coming in cup matches.

Monday:

No games, however OGC Nice (Nicolas Pépé) drew Le Puy, Reims (Folarin Balogun) drew FC Loon-Plage, and Marseille (Nuno Tavares) drew Hyéres FC in the Coupe de France RO64. The fixtures will be played over the weekend of January 6-8.

Meanwhile in Scotland, Ayr manager Lee Bullen gave an update on the extent of Alex Kirk’s ankle injury. He told the Ayrshire Post: “It’s a sore one as Alex has had a real impact and settled into the group fantastically well. The injury looked so innocuous at the time as he just fell to the turf as the ball came in. He’ll be properly assessed down the road and we’re hopeful he'll be back playing in two or three months.”

Tuesday:

Mazeed Ogungbo was out the squad for Crawley’s goalless draw in the league with Gillingham, while Tyreece John-Jules unfortunately couldn’t play for Ipswich in the Papa Johns Trophy Round of 32, due to a major hamstring tear.

Tom Smith was not included in Bromley’s squad to face Cray Valley Paper Mills in the Kent Senior Cup. Meanwhile, Ovie Ejeheri was benched against Great Wakering Rovers in the Essex Senior Cup; a competition they have won eight times.

Earlier in the day, The Clarets drew Wealdstone at home, defending champions Bromley (Tom Smith) drew Bath City away, and Chesterfield (Tim Akinola) drew Coalfield Town in the Isuzu FA Trophy 3rd round.   

Wednesday: N/A

Thursday:

On Thursday, Crewe Alexandra goalkeeping coach Fred Barber sang the praises of Okonkwo in an interview on their website. He said, “The world is his oyster, he can be whatever he wants to be” and “He is a good learner, a good listener, and he’s come on a lot. He’s got great physical attributes and he is talented, and he is prepared to work very hard to get better.”

He also mentioned how Okonkwo had developed during his time at Crewe, saying “When he first came he was a long way out of his goal, trying to use his frame to make saves. But I want him to be deeper so he has more reaction time. We saw in the win over Colchester, a couple of saves he made he wouldn’t have done earlier in the season, because of his positioning.”

Interestingly, he revealed that Arsenal’s No 1 played a key role in his transfer, “To get Arthur here, I got Aaron Ramsdale – who I used to coach - to pull a few favours for me, because there were a few clubs after him, from the Championship down. Aaron told Arthur to come here because he knows he will get the right work, how hard he will be worked, and that I can make him better.” 

Friday:

On Friday, Ipswich gaffer Kieran McKenna confirmed that Tyreece John-Jules underwent hamstring surgery and will spend the first few weeks of his recovery period at Arsenal. Over in Europe, Marcelo Flores started for the first time in his last four games for Real Oviedo, but was subbed off in the 58th minute.

Saturday:

On Saturday, Ovie Ejeheri played a brilliant 90 minutes for Chelmsford City against Worthing, getting a pre-assist as Cameron James doubled the Clarets’ lead. He did not keep the clean sheet however, as Worthing got a goal back in the 35th minute.

Up north, Crewe Alexandra crashed out of the FA Cup in a 3-0 defeat to Barnsley, with Arthur Okonkwo playing 90 minutes.

Tim Akinola played the last 12 minutes in Chesterfield’s 2-0 FA Cup upset over AFC Wimbledon.

In sunny Spain, Charlie Patino played in Blackpool’s 1-1 draw with Watford in their pre-second-half-of-the-season camp. Staying on the continent, Brooke Norton-Cuffy has been working hard with Rotherham in Paphos, Cyprus for their training camp. While Omar Rekik was an unused substitute in Jong Sparta’s 3-3 draw against Excelsior Maassluis in the Tweede Divisie.