Ian Maatsen continues to impress for top-of-the-table Burnley. After helping the Clarets to wins and clean sheets against Birmingham and Stoke after Christmas, Maatsen began 2023 with a bang, netting two brilliant goals inside 22 minutes at Swansea.

The first was a free-kick and the second a left-foot thunderbolt, with the brace proving decisive as Burnley won 2-1. The left-back earned praise from his manager Vincent Kompany afterwards.

‘Ian has given so much defensively and then he was able to add that to his game – not many players can give you that,’ said an admiring Burnley manager.

‘The set-up for the free-kick is never a coincidence, but then how he hits it he has to take the credit for that. That second goal just travelled and kept going.’

Elsewhere in England’s second tier, Baba Rahman came off the bench in both Reading’s 2-1 win against Swansea and their 1-0 loss at in-form West Brom.

Moving up to the Premier League, Levi Colwill played the full 90 minutes of Brighton’s two games between Christmas and new year. They won 3-1 along the South Coast at Southampton on Boxing Day, and then lost 4-2 at home to Arsenal despite giving the league leaders a late scare.

The defender had also played in Brighton’s Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out exit at the hands of Charlton prior to Christmas.

In League One, MK Dons continue to struggle. Jamie Cumming played in each of their three games since Christmas, keeping a clean sheet in the first, a 1-0 win over relegation rivals Forest Green Rovers. Bryan Fiabema came off the bench for the visitors in that one.

MK then lost 2-0 at Peterborough and 3-1 at Plymouth, although Henry Lawrence did play a key role in their goal in the latter game, winning the ball back and starting the attack from which they scored. He started that game having come off the bench in the Peterborough loss.

Jayden Wareham made his fourth and fifth league appearances for Leyton Orient, coming off the bench in their goalless draw at Newport County, and then starting a 1-0 defeat at Northampton. Despite that rare loss, the O’s remain two points clear at the top of League Two.

Monaco have returned after Christmas with a pair of wins. Malang Sarr played throughout the 3-2 success at Auxerre, and then came off the bench late on to help them hold on to a 1-0 advantage against Stade Brest.