Assist, clean sheet: Arsenal loanees have positive weekend | OneFootball

Arsenal’s loanees had a pretty good weekend, with Karl Hein keeping a clean sheet, Albert Sambi Lokonga providing an assist, and Fabio Vieira impressing from the bench.

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The weekend got off to a strong start for Arsenal’s small group of loanees as Karl Hein kept a rare clean sheet for Real Valladolid against Real Betis to secure a 1-0 win.

Valladolid are having a poor season, and their only previous win in the last 17 games was against bottom-of-the-table Valencia. But this was a surprisingly positive afternoon for Hein’s side, as he kept their second clean sheet in three games by making three saves.

There’s still a lot of work to do for the team, as they sit 19th and very much in the relegation zone. But with just two points now separating them from 17th-place Alaves, and just four points to 15th-place Getafe, there are finally some reasons to be optimistic.

On an individual note, this was Hein’s fifth clean sheet in 20 games for the club.

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Next up was Albert Sambi Lokonga of Sevilla, with the midfielder playing the full 90 minutes against Valencia. The Arsenal loanee’s side looked to be heading for a shock defeat until he provided an assist for their injury-time equaliser.

The assist was a relatively simple pass, but it turned out to be an important one as Sevilla stole a point.

On Sunday, Porto were in action, and it was certainly not a positive performance against bottom-half club Nacional. Arsenal’s Fabio Vieira started the game on the bench, and by half time he’d watched his loan side go 2-0 down.

Though Vieira couldn’t spark an unlikely comeback to win the game, he did create five chances in the second half. No one from either side made more chances than that across the full 90 minutes.

With Porto also avoiding conceding any further goals in the second half, manager Vitor Bruno has to feel that they did better with Vieira on the pitch.

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There was even some positive news on the injury front, with reports suggesting Reiss Nelson isn’t far away from a comeback. Marquinhos also finalised another loan spell last week, but new club Cruzeiro won’t be in competitive action until January 19th.