Round up for weekend of Friday, 29th December 2017

Friday, 29th December 2017

Championship

Cardiff 0-1 Preston North End

Greg Cunningham's made his first appearance since August after returning from injury
Alan Browne was booked for the first time since Wednesday, 1st November in his 25th appearance of the season

Saturday, 30 December 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 2-1 Everton

James McCarthy's start against Bournemouth was his first appearance in the Premier League this season

Huddersfield 0-0 Burnley

Jeff Hendrick made his 50th appearance in the Premier League

Newcastle Utd 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion

Ciaran Clark made his 50th start for Newcastle Utd

Championship

Birmingham City 1-0 Leeds United

Conor Shaughnessy's first start since Tuesday, 24th October was his first appearance for Leeds in a month

Middlesbrough 0-1 Aston Villa

Darren Randolph made his 25th appearance for Middlesbrough
Conor Hourihane was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Sunderland

Aiden McGeady's winner was his fifth goal for Sunderland

Sheffield United 0-1 Bolton

Josh Cullen made his first appearance since Saturday, 14th October, it was also the midfielder's first start in three months

League 1

Blackpool 2-2 Plymouth

Graham Carey scored his 50th goal in UK football

Bradford City 3-2 Oxford United

Canice Carroll scored his first goal of his career

Bury 0-2 Fleetwood

Stephen Dawson made his 100th start for Bury

Oldham 1-1 Bristol Rovers

Ryan Sweeney made his 50th career appearance

League 2

Cheltenham 1-1 Newport Co.

Padraig Amond scored his first goal since Saturday, 14th October in his first start in a month

Scottish Premier League

Partick Thistle 2-0 Ross County

Conor Sammon scored his 25th SPL goal, and was booked for the first time this season

Australian A-League

Sydney 6-0 Perth Glory

Andy Keogh started his first game for Perth Glory since Friday, 24th November

Sunday, 31st December 2017

Premier League

Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester City

Unused substitute Damien Delaney was named in the Crystal Palace squad for the first time since Saturday, 28th October

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Arsenal

James McClean unfortunately scored his first own goal in English football against Arsenal

Round Up for week of Tuesday, 26th December 2017

Tuesday, 26th December 2017

Premier League

Chelsea 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion

Shane Duffy made his 50th appearance for Brighton and Hove Albion, all of which have been starts

Manchester United 2-2 Burnley

Jeff Hendrick made his 50th start for Burnley
Jonathan Walters came off the bench for his first appearance since August

Championship

Millwall 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Shaun Williams started his first game for Millwall in three months, and was shown his first yellow card since Tuesday, 12th September

Barnsley 0-0 Preston North End

Daryl Horgan was named in Preston's starting XI for the first time since early August

Brentford 2-1 Aston Villa

Glenn Whelan start for Villa was the midfielder's 100th appearance in the Championship
Lining out beside Whelan, Scott Hogan had his first start since Saturday, 4th November

League 1

Gillingham 1-1 Oxford United

Conor Wilkinson's strike for Gillingham was his tenth goal in League One

Blackburn 2-0 Rochdale

Keith Keane returned for Rochdale, making his first appearance in four months
Derrick Williams was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Blackpool 2-3 Scunthorpe

Jimmy Ryan was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Bury 0-3 Rotherham

Stephen Dawson was booked for the first time this season in his first start for Bury since Thursday, 10th August
Lee Frecklington's strike was his 15th goal in League One
On his 25th appearance of the season, Anthony Forde was shown his first yellow card since Tuesday, 17th October

Oldham 1-2 Fleetwood

Courtney Duffus came off the bench for Oldham for his first appearance since Tuesday, 21th November

Walsall 0-0 Bristol Rovers

Rory Gaffney made his 100th appearance in English football

League 2

Grimsby 1-1 Mansfield Town

Conrad Logan made his 100th appearance in the League Two

Carlisle United 3-1 Accrington Stanley

Jamie Devitt's opener for Carlisle was his 25th goal in League Two

Cheltenham 0-2 Yeovil

Connor Smith was booked for the first time since Saturday, 23rd September

Swindon Town 0-5 Luton

James Collins scored his 120th goal of his career

Scottish Premier League

Dundee 0-2 Celtic

Darren O'Dea came off the bench for his first appearance in a month

Are birthdays really important - another look

Following on from our recent article investigating the Examiner's claim that your birth month will affect your chances of playing at international level for the Republic of Ireland, one of the issues that we had with the original study seemed to gather importance as the investigation continued, even after publishing the initial rebuttal

it[the initial article] ignores that summer soccer only started in Ireland in 2003, and not all of the players marked as "Irish reared" came through in this system.

With this in mind, we decided to examine the list of player we had included in the study again. As stated, summer soccer was only introduced in Ireland in 2003, therefore it was reasonable to assume that only players born after 1993 (who would be ten years old in 2003, and starting their football education) would have come through the youth setup in that environment. To date, the only players born in Ireland after 1st January 2003 that have made their international debut are Alan Browne (b. 15 April 2003) and Sean Maguire (b. 1st May 2003), and according to poster "Charlie Darwin" on Irish football forum foot.ie, the U19 league was still a winter league when Browne played there, leaving Maguire as the only international to have been "reared" (to use the Examiner's terminology) in the summer setup.

So, bearing these changes to the "development quarter" a player was born in (as opposed to the calendar quarter) how does this affect the study?

As you can see in the table below, there's now a more even spread of players between quarters one, three and four, with players born in quarter two (December, January and February) at a disadvantage when their chances of playing at international level are assessed. However, this quarter does include squad mainstays Shane Duffy, Glenn Whelan, Robbie Brady, Shane Long, Jeff Hendrick and Harry Arter.

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Sept-Nov	Dec-Feb	March-May	June-Aug
13(25.49%)	11(21.57%)	13(25.49%)	14(27.45%)
Stephen Kelly(September 6) Kevin Doyle(September 18) Jonathan Walters(September 20) Ciaran Clarke(September 26) Cyrus Christie(September 30) Seamus Coleman(October 11) John Egan(October 20) Keiren Westwood(October 23) Darron Gibson(October 25) Alex Pearce(November 9) James McCarthy(November 12) Alan Judge(November 11) David McGoldrick(November 29)	Shane Duffy(January 1) Paul McShane(January 6) Glenn Whelan(January 13) Robbie Brady(January 14) Shane Long(January 22) Jeff Hendrick(January 31) Conor Hourihane(February 2) Sean Maguire*(May 1) David Forde(December 20) Harry Arter(December 28) Sean St Ledger(December 28)	Andy Boyle(March 7) Daryl Murphy(March 15) Aidan McGeady(April 4) Stephen Quinn(April 4) Paul Green(April 10) Alan Browne(April 15) James McClean(April 22) Callum O'Dowda(April 23) John O'Shea(April 30) Robert Elliot(April 30) Darren Randolph(May 12) Wes Hoolahan(May 20) David Meyler(May 29)	Anthony Pilkington(June 6) Shay Given(June 20) Robbie Keane(July 8) Jonathan Hayes(July 9) Eunan O'Kane(July 10) Damien Delaney(July 20) Anthony Stokes(July 25) Andy Reid(July 29) Stephen Gleeson(August 3) Richard Keogh(August 11) Daryl Horgan(August 10) Marc Wilson(August 17) Kevin Long(August 18) Stephen Ward(August 20)

* designates player developed in summer soccer

Armed with a better definition of when the quarter in which a player is born, we can now apply this definition across the history of players capped by the Republic of Ireland

Firstly, lets compare the record of players selected by Martin O'Neill to every player capped. There is a slight difference across the first three quarters, with increases in quarters one and two offset by a decline in the number of players born in Q3 selected for international honours.

Q	Players
1	94(28.14%)
2	75(22.46%)
3	73(21.86%)
4	92(27.54%)

Finally, let's look at players with ten, or more, caps. In our opinion, this gives the clearest indication of how the birth month of a player affects their chances of becoming a squad regular. Those players born in Q1, Q3 and Q4 have approximately the same chance of keeping their place in the squad, but players born in Q2 (December, January and February) do appear to suffer in this regard.

Q	Players
1	43(25.90%)
2	39(23.49%)
3	42(25.30%)
4	42(25.30%)

As we said in the rebuttal, this does need further study. Of particular interest is how the change to summer soccer has affected player development, is there a change in the makeup of underage squads when you compare the squads from before and after the change to summer soccer?

As we noted, there's only one international player who had the entirety of his football education in the summer soccer era, so it may be some time before an accurate study on the effectiveness of the change can be made.

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 22nd December 2017

Friday, 22nd December 2017

League 1

Fleetwood 0-2 Gillingham

Mark Byrne made his 50th appearance in League One

League 2

Coventry 3-2 Wycombe Wanderers

Michael Doyle scored his fifth goal in League Two, his first goal in almost three months, and a memorable strike it was too!

Saturday, 23rd December 2017

Premier League

West Ham United 2-3 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark made his 50th appearance for Newcastle Utd

Championship

Preston North End 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Kevin O'Connor returned to the Preston starting XI for the first time in a month

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Ipswich

Matt Doherty made his 200th career start

Aston Villa 2-2 Sheffield United

Conor Hourihane made his 300th career start
Samir Carruthers came off the bench to make his 50th appearance in the competition

League 1

Northampton 1-1 Blackburn

John-Joe O'Toole was booked for the first time in two months

Peterborough 3-0 Bury

Stephen Dawson's introduction as a second half substitute (his first appearance for Bury since August) was his 100th appearance for the Shakers
Having only been sent off once in his career before 2017/28, Eoghan O'Connell was sent off for the second time this season

Rotherham 2-1 MK Dons

Lee Frecklington was booked for the first time this season

League 2

Luton 2-0 Grimsby

James Collins scored his tenth goal for Luton (also his 80th goal in League Two) in his first start since Saturday, 11th November

Newport Co. 0-0 Lincoln City

Mark O'Brien was sent off for the second time for Newport County

Stevenage 5-1 Chesterfield

Connor Dimaio made his 50th appearance for Chesterfield

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 3-0 Aberdeen

Adam Rooney made his 300th career start
Anthony O'Connor made his 200th career start
Jonathan Hayes scored his first goal for Celtic since moving to the Bhoys in the summer

Partick Thistle 1-0 Hamilton Academical

Niall Keown scored his first goal since August, and was unfortunately booked for the fifth time this season and so is suspended for the next game

Scottish Championship

Greenock Morton 1-0 Inverness CT

Jake Mulraney made his 25th start for Inverness CT

Indian Super League

Atlético de Kolkata 1-0 Delhi Dynamos

Robbie Keane scored his first goal for Atléletico de Kolkata, this was the striker's first goal anywhere since September 2016

Are birthdays really important?

A recent article by the Irish Examiner posited that it was better for a prospective Ireland international footballer to be born in the first three quarters in the year if he was born in Ireland, due to the summer soccer season here, whereas if the player were born in the UK, then they have a better chance of playing at the highest level if they were born outside of June, July and August, with the players born in September, October and November most likely to earn international caps.

However, the focus was only on one squad, the final squad of 2017 in the play off against Denmark, a tiny sample group considering the Irish national side has played more than 500 games, with over 300 players capped.

As well as that, it ignores that summer soccer only started in Ireland in 2003, and not all of the players marked as "Irish reared" came through in this system.

A minor gripe was that players who didn't appear in the play offs were included in the final table, however omitting them to only use players who received caps in the two games would have reduced the sample size even further.

With that in mind, we've compiled the following table using the same criteria, but increased the sample size to include all players who have been capped by Martin O'Neill since taking over in 2013.

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Ireland: Jan-March	Ireland: April-June	Ireland: July-Sept	Ireland: Oct-Dec
UK: Sept-Nov	UK: Dec-Feb	UK: March-May	UK: June-Aug
16(31.3%)	11(21.5%)	17(33.3%)	7(13.7%)
Shane Duffy(January 1) Paul McShane(January 6) Glenn Whelan(January 13) Robbie Brady(January 14) Shane Long(January 22) Jeff Hendrick(January 31) Conor Hourihane(February 2) Andy Boyle(March 7) Daryl Murphy(March 15) Jonathan Walters*(September 20) Ciaran Clarke*(September 26) Cyrus Christie*(September 30) Keiren Westwood*(October 23) Alex Pearce*(November 9) James McCarthy*(November 12) David McGoldrick*(November 29)	Stephen Quinn(April 4) Alan Browne(April 15) James McClean(April 22) John O'Shea(April 30) Sean Maguire(May 1) Darren Randolph(May 12) Wes Hoolahan(May 20) David Meyler(May 29) Shay Given(June 20) Harry Arter*(December 28) Sean St Ledger*(December 28)	Aidan McGeady*(April 4) Paul Green*(April 10) Callum O'Dowda*(April 23) Robert Elliot*(April 30) Robbie Keane(July 8) Jonathan Hayes(July 9) Eunan O'Kane(July 10) Damien Delaney(July 20) Anthony Stokes(July 25) Andy Reid(July 29) Stephen Gleeson(August 3) Daryl Horgan(August 10) Marc Wilson(August 17) Kevin Long(August 18) Stephen Ward(August 20) Stephen Kelly(September 6) Kevin Doyle(September 18)	Anthony Pilkington*(June 6) Richard Keogh*(August 11) Seamus Coleman(October 11) John Egan(October 20) Darron Gibson(October 25) Alan Judge(November 11) David Forde(December 20)

As you can see, there is a marked difference with the table produced by the Examiner. Players born in Q1 and Q2 drop by 17 and 9 percentage points respectively, with those born in Q3 and Q4 increasing in 11 and 13 percentage points, respectively.

The real question is - what does all of this prove? Not a lot really, other than (as pointed out in the original article) you're less likely to get capped if you were born in the final quarter of the year in Ireland, or the summer months in the UK. 

It's hard to extrapolate anything from the small sample size of one squad, and even the larger size of 46 games under Martin O'Neill has the conclusion of a slightly better chance of playing international football if you were born in Ireland in the first three months of the year, or during late summer, or Spring or early Autumn in the UK

Maybe it needs further study?

Further reading
Why birthdays are one of the big problems affecting Irish soccer

Round up for weekend of Friday, 15th December 2017

Friday, 15th December 2017

League 2

Swindon Town 2-3 Colchester

Donal McDermott's first appearance since Wednesday, 8 November was also his first start for Swindon the previous Sunday

Saturday, 16th December 2017

Premier League

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle Utd

Robert Elliot's start was his 50th Premier League appearance

Brighton and Hove Albion 0-0 Burnley

Shane Duffy was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Championship

Bolton 0-1 Burton Albion

Sean Scannell made his 300th appearance in the Championship

Derby County 2-0 Aston Villa

Scott Hogan came off the bench for his first appearance since Saturday, 4th November

Ipswich 2-0 Reading

Paul McShane was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Preston North End 1-0 Sheffield United

This was the first time since March 2016 that four Irish players (Kevin O'Connor, Andy Boyle, Daryl Horgan and Alan Browne) started on the subs bench for a single team.
Samir Carruthers's first start since August was his 25th appearance for Sheffield United

Cardiff 1-0 Hull City

In his first appearance for Cardiff since August, Anthony Pilkington assisted the winner against Hull

League 1

Blackburn 2-0 Charlton

Derrick Williams made his 200th career appearance
Leon Best unfortunately scored his first own goal since May 2007

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Oldham

Eoin Doyle scored his 15th goal of the season

Gillingham 4-1 Bristol Rovers

Bradley Garmston made his first appearance since Saturday, 28th October

Northampton 2-1 Walsall

Brendan Moloney made his 100th appearance for Northampton

Rotherham 1-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey made his 300th career appearance in British football

Southend United 1-2 Bradford City

Stephen McLaughlin scored his 15th goal for Southend

League 2

Carlisle United 1-2 Port Vale

John O'Sullivan's first start of the season was also his 25th appearance for Carlisle United

Exeter 2-1 Stevenage

Pierce Sweeney scored his fifth goal of the season in his 25th start of the season
Liam McAlinden was booked for the first time this season

Forest Green 0-2 Luton

Alan Sheehan made his 100th appearance in League Two
Glen Rea made his 25th appearance of the season
Alan Sheehan's scored his first goal since September

Lincoln City 2-0 Accrington Stanley

Seamus Conneely returned for his first appearance in a month

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 4-1 Hibernian

Adam Rooney made his 200th appearance in the SPL
Anthony Stokes' late consolation for Hibernian was his tenth goal of the season, and his 100th goal in the top level of Scottish football

Rangers 1-3 St Johnstone

Graham Cummins' first goal of the season was also his 15th goal for St. Johnstone

Scottish Championship

Inverness CT 1-0 Dumbarton

Jake Mulraney's start against Dumbarton was his 50th appearance for Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Sunday, 17th December 2017

League 1

Fleetwood 2-3 Peterborough

Cian Bolger scored his third goal in two games (the first time the defender has scored in consecutive games) in his 25th start of the season

Indian Super League

Mumbai City 0-1 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane made his first start for Atlético de Kolkata, this was his first time being named in a starting XI since October 2016, and was voted as Fans Player of the Match

You voted for @WorldATK's Robbie Keane as the Fans' Player of the Match and he has a message of gratitude. #LetsFootball #MUMKOL pic.twitter.com/JtFlogGOWw

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) December 17, 2017

Round up for week of Tuesday, 12th December 2017

Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Premier League

Burnley 1-0 Stoke City

Jeff Hendrick made his 50th appearance for Burnley

Scottish Premier League

Ross County 2-2 Kilmarnock

Alan Power was booked for the first time since October

English FA Cup

Wigan 3-2 AFC Fylde

Noel Hunt's introduction from the bench was the striker's first appearance since Tuesday, 24 October

Exeter 2-1 Forest Green

Pierce Sweeney scored his first FA Cup goal, and was booked for the first time since August in his 25th appearance of the season

Wednesday, 13 December 2017

Premier League

Liverpool 0-0 West Bromwich Albion

James McClean's first start since Tuesday, 22nd August was also the Derry native's 250th appearance in English football

Scottish Premier League

Partick Thistle 3-2 Motherwell

The six Irish players to start this game was the most since six players also started the Middlesbrough-Sunderland game on Sunday, 5th November
Conor Sammon scored his first goal for Partick in his first start since early November

St Johnstone 0-3 Aberdeen

Anthony O'Connor made his 50th appearance in the SPL
Adam Rooney scored his fifth goal of the season, this was the striker's first goal since Saturday, 30 September

English FA Cup

Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Blackburn

Derrick Williams assisted the only goal of the game in his 25th appearance of the season, all of which were starts

Thursday, 14 December 2017

English FA Cup

Hereford United 0-2 Fleetwood

The first goal of Cian Bolger's brace (his first goals of the season) was the tenth goal of his career

Round up for weekend of Friday, 8th December 2017

Friday, 8th December 2017

Championship

Sheffield United 1-2 Bristol City

Enda Stevens' first booking since October was also his fifth yellow card of the season and he is suspended for the next game

Saturday, 9th December 2017

Premier League

Burnley 1-0 Watford

This was Kevin Long's first appearance in the Premier League this season and his first appearance for Burnley since Tuesday, 19 September

Championship

Aston Villa 0-0 Millwall

Shaun Williams returned from injury as a second half substitute. This was the midfielder's first appearance since Tuesday, 26th September
Glenn Whelan was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Burton Albion 1-2 Preston North End

Daryl Horgan's late winner was his first goal of the season

Hull City 3-2 Brentford

David Meyler unfortunately scored his first own goal of his career in this game
John Egan scored his first goal since Tuesday, 22nd August and was booked for the second time this season

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Sunderland

Darron Gibson's start against Wolves was his 25th appearance for Sunderland

League 1

Bristol Rovers 3-0 Southend United

Rory Gaffney made his 25th appearance of the season

Charlton 0-1 Portsmouth

Billy Clarke started his first game for Charlton in a month

Oldham 5-1 Northampton

The first goal of Jack Byrne's brace (the second time he's scored twice in a game this season) was the tenth goal of his career, and earned him a spot in the EFL team of the week

#EFL Team of the Week! 💫

Our selection of standout performers from the weekend action >> https://t.co/OxkIVUQynQ pic.twitter.com/6ufuKc6PIk

— EFL (@EFL) December 11, 2017

Sam Foley's consolation for Northampton was his first goal in a month and also his 15th goal in League 1

Plymouth 2-1 Gillingham

Graham Carey made his 250th start in British football

League 2

Cheltenham 1-0 Crewe Alexandra

Eddie Nolan made his 25th appearance for Crewe Alexandra

Colchester 3-1 Exeter

Liam McAlinden made his 25th appearance of the season

Grimsby 1-0 Forest Green

James McKeown was booked for the first time this season, before this the goalkeeper hadn't been booked since September 2016

Scottish Premier League

Kilmarnock 5-1 Partick Thistle

Niall Keown scored the first own goal of his career for Partick in this game

Monday, 11th December 2017

Championship

Reading 2-2 Cardiff

Liam Kelly was booked for the first time this season

Round up for week of Tuesday, 5th December 2017

Tuesday, 5th December 2017

Football League Trophy

Gillingham 1-2 Oxford United

Canice Carroll started his first game since Saturday, 21st October, and was also booked for the first time since the last game
Mark Byrne scored his first goal of the season. This was the midfielder's first goal in more than a year, his last strike came on Saturday, 26th November 2016

Bradford City 0-1 Oldham

Paul Green was booked for the first time this season

Port Vale 1-2 Shrewsbury

Gavin Gunning was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Scunthorpe 1-2 Leicester City U21

Paddy Madden's yellow card was his first booking in two months

Wednesday, 6th December 2017

Football League Trophy

Peterborough 2-0 Southend United

Both Simon Cox and Stephen McLaughlin made their 25th appearance of 2017/18
Chris Forrester was booked for the first time since August

Thursday, 7th December 2017

UEFA Cup

Apollon 0-3 Everton

Congratulations to U21 midfielder Harry Charsley on making his senior debut for Everton

📋 | Team sheets are in and there are 2️⃣ debutants for the Blues. Congratulations to Harry Charsley and Fraser Hornby! pic.twitter.com/9YHQSAoOHp

— Everton (@Everton) December 7, 2017

Indian Super League

Chennaiyin FC 3-2 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane came off the bench to make his first appearance for Atlético de Kolkata, more than a year after his last appearance for LA Galaxy on Sunday, 6th November 2016

November 2017 Appearance Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for November 2017

Wins
In a month with a reduced number of games due to the international break, no player won more than Matt Doherty, Glenn Whelan and Conor Hourihane's four victories

Draws
Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood was the only player to start more than two draws, the Sheffield Wednesday number one started three games that ended all square

Losses
Newcastle's Rob Elliott started three losses in November, no other player started more than two

Starts/Completed Games
Of the five games defenders Paul McShane, Richard Keogh, John Egan and midfielders Glenn Whelan and Conor Hourihane started in November, only McShane, Egan and Hourihane went on to complete 90 minutes in all five

Substitutions/Introductions
Harry Arter, Jeff Hendrick, Sean Scannell and Aiden O'Brien were all substituted three times in November, one less than the number of times James McClean was introduced from the bench for West Brom

Stayed On Bench
Goalkeepers Stephen Henderson and Brian Murphy were unused substitutes in four games in November, the same as defenders Kevin Long and Alex Pearce

Goals
David McGoldrick was the only player to score more than once, the Ipswich striker scored two goals, while Anthony Stokes was the only player to score a penalty

Discipline
Carl McHugh and Daniel Devine were both booked twice, no other player was booked more than once

Round up for weekend of Friday, 1st December 2017

Friday, 1st December 2017

Championship

Leeds United 1-1 Aston Villa

Conor Hourihane was booked for the first time since Saturday, 14th October

Polish Ekstraklasa

Jagiellonia Białystok 1-0 Pogoń Szczecin

Cillian Sheridan marked his first start since Sunday, 22th October with his first goal since Sunday, 13th August

Saturday, 2nd December 2017

Premier League

Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark was shown his first yellow card since Saturday, 16th September

Championship

Millwall 3-1 Sheffield United

Aiden O'Brien made his 150th appearance for Millwall

Another #Millwall milestone for @AidenObrien22 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/wUvgTBNF4Z

— Millwall FC (@MillwallFC) December 2, 2017

League 1

Southend United 2-0 Oldham

Jack Byrne made his 50th career start

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 5-1 Motherwell

Jonathan Hayes returned to the Celtic starting XI for his first start since Saturday, 30th September

St Johnstone 1-2 Kilmarnock

Gary Dicker was booked for the first time this season in his first start of the season

English FA Cup

Bradford City 3-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey scored his fifth goal of the season

Sunday, 3rd December 2017

Premier League

Manchester City 2-1 West Ham United

Declan Rice was booked for the first time this season in his first start since Tuesday, 31st October

English FA Cup

Gateshead 0-5 Luton

Glen Rea made his 100th career appearance

Blackburn 3-3 Crewe Alexandra

Eddie Nolan scored his first goal of the season, also his first goal in the FA Cup. Before this the defender hadn't scored since September 2015

Coventry 3-0 Boreham Wood

Michael Doyle was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Monday, 4 December 2017

English FA Cup

Slough Town 0-4 Rochdale

Joe Rafferty's start for Rochdale was the defender's 200th career appearance