Arsenal youth striker Stephy Mavididi missed out on Preston North End’s 1-1 draw with Norwich City on Saturday through injury.
Following a tough spell for the 19-year-old, which saw Lilywhites boss Alex Neil consistently overlooking him, there finally seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel, with the England Under-20 international being able to begin to put together some vital minutes on the pitch against Bolton Wanderers and Bristol City.
However, ahead of PNE’s trip to the Canaries it was announced that the Arsenal youngster had not recovered from the injury he picked up during his temporary side’s 2-1 win over the Robins in midweek.
The extent of Mavididi’s issue is not yet know, but all will be hoping that it is not as serious as his season-ending thigh muscle rupture he suffered last campaign which inevitably brought an end to his spell at Charlton Athletic.
On a slightly more positive note, Takuma Asano managed to grab his first goal for loan club VfB Stuttgart at the weekend during their 1-1 home draw with Hannover at the weekend.
The 23-year-old has been given a number of opportunities to prove his worth since heading over to the Bundesliga, with Friday night’s appearance his 13th in all competitions for the German top-flight side.
Hopefully now he has broken his duck the Japan international can kick on and show Gunners boss Arsene Wenger why he should be involved in the Gunners first-team next season.
Sticking with attackers, striker Lucas Perez featured once again for Deportivo La Coruna at the weekend during their 2-2 draw with Athletic Bilbao.
The Spaniard had begun to show the form as to why the Arsenal hierarchy deemed fit to pay around £12.6 million for him back in the summer of 2016 – netting five goals in his previous six matches – however, he did not find his name on the scoresheet this time out.
Elsewhere, Kelechi Nwakali was an unused substitute for VVV-Venlo during their 3-3 thriller with Willem II on Saturday, while Carl Jenkinson (Birmingham City) and Joel Campbell (Real Betis) missed out on their matches through injury.
Possibly more worrying, however, were the absences of both Cohen Bramall (Birmingham City) and Marc Bola (Bristol Rovers), with the pairing missing out once again for unspecified reasons.
The former has now not featured for the Blues since mid-October, whereas the latter has not made an appearance since August, or even been in the matchday squad since September.
One thing you can take away from that is it would come as no shock to see Bola back at the Emirates Stadium come January if his current agreement permits it.
