It was the latter who had cause for celebration on what was his second debut in Wigan Athletic colours as he played 78 minutes - at left-back nonetheless - of their 2-1 win over Cambridge United on Saturday. Meanwhile, Lokonga's return to London ended in defeat as Luton Town were beaten by Fulham.
Reflecting on getting 74 minutes under his belt following an injury-disrupted pre-season with Arsenal, the midfielder took to Instagram and wrote: "First game for @lutontown. Not the result we wanted but we'll keep fighting. Thanks for the fans who travelled. Your support means a lot."
Now for one reason or another, nor Arthur Okonkwo, Brian Okonkwo, Mauro Bandeira, Catalin Cirjan, Kido Taylor-Hart, Alex Kirk, Mika Biereth, Tyreece John-Jules, Henry Jeffcott and Salah-Eddine Oulad M'Hand featured for their respective clubs or at international level over the course of the past week.
With Nuno Tavares potentially in action for Nottingham Forest against Burnley tonight (Monday) it's been a quiet week for Arsenal's loanees but Charlie Patino did make his England U21s debut in the 3-0 win over Luxembourg as the Young Lions got their 2025 UEFA U21 Euro qualification campaign off to a great start.
However, at club level the young midfielder, who played a large portion of the game with his head bandage to protect a wound, did taste defeat as a Swansea City player in the south Wales derby against Cardiff City as former Gunner Aaron Ramsey sealed a 2-0 win for the hosts with a late penalty.That same game saw Runar Alex Runarsson stay on the bench throughout as he was rested following his excursions for Iceland during the international break where he bounced back from conceding three against Luxembourg to keep a clean sheet in the home win over Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Elsewhere Brooke Norton-Cuffy started Millwall's 3-0 loss at the hands of Leeds United, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji made a substitute appearance in Cheltenham Town's defeat away at Exeter City and the FA Cup dream is over for Billy Vigar's Eastbourne Borough after they lost in the second qualifying round at home to Worthing.
Marquinhos was perhaps a lucky charm for Nantes on Sunday afternoon as his first start for the club coincided with a first victory of the Ligue 1 season as they beat Clermont 1-0 away from home. That said, it was the Brazilian's best individual performance by any means as he earned an 6.8 rating per Sofascore.
Of all the Arsenal loanees, there's an argument that Kieran Tierney was involved in the most high-profile fixture at the weekend as he started for Real Sociedad away at Real Madrid. For 45 minutes things were going smoothly for the visitors as they led at the break courtesy of Ander Barrenetxea's early goal but Carlo Ancelotti's side completed the turnaround in the second half.
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