With the New Year now with us, most fans of the English game of football are looking forward to the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, but for Premier League sides in particular, the months of January and February do throw up a few selection headaches given the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup tournaments that are now due to take place.
The AFCON competition runs from January 13 to February 11 and will be held in the Ivory Coast this year, whereas the Asian Cup is hosted by Qatar and begins on January 12, running until February 10 and a host of top flight players will be out of domestic (and where applicable, European) action as they travel to represent their home countries and help play their part in guiding them to some success, and for those fans who like a flutter plenty of odds will be available on the best online sportsbook.
This year it is again a little bit easier for Premier League clubs to deal with this small disruption, as with the earlier implementation of our short winter break, that does naturally remove the headache of a few fixtures, but some sides will still be without key players for a number of weeks.
One of those will be Liverpool who are now set to lose top scorer Mohamed Salah as he resumes the role of captain of the Egyptian side for their upcoming games. Manager Jurgen Klopp played down the element of disruption, insisting clubs are well aware of the challenges and simply have to plan around them.
“We knew the Africa Cup of Nations from time to time appears and Mo has to go. We have Wataru Endo as a participant of the Asian Cup as well, so it is like it is. We have to deal with it and we will.”
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou simply pointed out that for many the AFCON and Asian Cup were just as important as the European Championships and having led Australia to Asian Cup glory back in 2015, he was extremely aware of that importance and saw what it meant to the Aussies.
Whilst the varying squads have yet to be finalised, and there may be the odd late change with a couple of additions and withdrawals, many of the squads are now set and as things stand, these are the players that each Premier League side will lose from contention for a period.
AFC Bournemouth:
Dango Ouattara (Forward, Burkina Faso)
Antoine Semenyo (Forward, Ghana)
Arsenal:
Mohamed Elneny (Midfielder, Egypt)
Thomas Partey (Midfielder, Ghana)
Takehiro Tomiyasu (Defender, Japan)
Aston Villa:
Bertrand Traore (Midfielder, Burkina Faso)
Brentford:
Saman Ghoddos (Midfielder, Iran)
Kim Ji-soo (Defender, South Korea)
Frank Onyeka (Midfielder, Nigeria)
Yoane Wissa (Forward, DR Congo)
Brighton:
Simon Adingra (Forward, Ivory Coast)
Tariq Lamptey (Defender, Ghana)
Burnley:
Basilio Rieno (Midfielder, Equatorial Guinea)
Chelsea:
Nicolas Jackson (Forward, Senegal)
Crystal Palace:
Jordan Ayew (Forward, Ghana)
Cheick Doucoure (Midfielder, Mali)
Everton:
Idrissa Gueye (Midfielder, Senegal)
Fulham:
Fode Ballo-Toure (Defender, Senegal) On loan from AC Milan
Calvin Bassey (Defender, Nigeria)
Alex Iwobi (Midfielder, Nigeria)
Liverpool:
Wataru Endo (Midfielder, Japan)
Mohamed Salah (Forward, Egypt)
Luton:
Issa Kabore (Defender, Burkina Faso)
Manchester United:
Sofyan Amrabat (Midfielder, Morocco)
Amad Diallo (Forward, Ivory Coast)
Andre Onana (Goalkeeper, Cameroon)
Nottingham Forest:
Ola Aina (Defender, Nigeria)
Serge Aurier (Defender, Ivory Coast)
Willy Boly (Defender, Ivory Coast)
Cheikhou Kouyate (Midfielder, Senegal)
Moussa Niakhate (Defender, Senegal)
Ibrahim Sangare (Midfielder, Ivory Coast)
Sheffield United:
Yasser Larouci (Defender, Algeria)
Anis Ben Slimane (Midfielder, Tunisia)
Tottenham:
Yves Bissouma (Midfielder, Mali)
Son Heung-min (Forward, South Korea)
Pape Matar Sarr (Midfielder, Senegal)
West Ham:
Nayef Aguerd (Defender, Morocco)
Mohammed Kudus (Midfielder, Ghana)
Wolves:
Hwang Hee-chan (Midfielder, South Korea)
Justin Hubner (Defender, Indonesia)
Rayan Ait-Nouri (Defender, Algeria)
Boubacar Traore (Midfielder, Mali)
Manchester City and Newcastle United are the only top flight sides who will not lose a player to the two tournaments, but for those fans who follow the competitions there are bound to be a plethora of talking points and some moments of magic again, and undoubtedly there will be some relatively unknown players on show who are looking to make an impression and maybe secure themselves a transfer when the window opens over the summer and the current campaign has come to a close.
