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Being hosted by Equatorial Guinea, the African Cup of Nations is scheduled between 17th of January to the 8th of February.A total of sixteen players from eleven Premier League clubs has left the United Kingdom for the continent of Africa to join their national team with some clubs expected to miss the services of their key players, left for the AFCON until February. Here, in this slideshow, we talk about 6 clubs that will be affected the most by the African Cup of Nations along with their potential replacements.
#1 Southampton -Sadio Mane
Having disappointed the Southampton fans at the start of the season due to the indifferent showing of forms, Mane rewarded them with a superlative form in the past recent games against opponents like Arsenal and Chelsea.
Representing Senegal in the African Cup of Nations, the Lions of Teranga face African giants Ghana in their opening AFCON fixture on the 19th of January followed by South Africa in the 23rd and Algeria on the 27th, meaning the Saints to miss the midfielder for a minimum of two games.
With 7 goals and 2 assists in his 934 minutes for the Saints, Mane will miss the away clash against Newcastle on the 17th followed by the FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace at St. Marys on the 24th of January.
However, if Senegal manages to progress all their way into the final of the African Cup of Nations on the 8th of February, Mane would miss a further of four games instead of two with Swansea City on the 1st and Queens Park Rangers on the 8th of February.
Conversely, Ronald Koeman seems like to have no shortage in replacing the Senegalese. Already having Shane Long who can play in the same position, the Saints brought the Dutch winger Eljero Elia on loan from Wender Bremen as a cover for Mane thus, making it somewhat easy for Koeman to operate the line-up without the Senegalese.
#2 Spurs -Nabil Bentaleb
Having first introduced by Tim Sherwood as a second-half substitute against the Saints last season, Bentaleb has an outstanding record his season with Spurs winning 64 percent of their Premier League matches with the midfielder in the side compared to just 33 percent without him.
Having chosen to represent The Desert Warriors, Algeria starts their AFCON campaign on the 19th of January against South Africa with Ghana on the 23rd followed by Senegal on the 27th, meaning the 20-year-old midfielder to miss a minimum of further four matches.
Already having missed the 2-1 away loss to Crystal Palace and the 4-2 win over Burnley in the FA Cup 4th Round replay, Bentaleb whove played for an aggregate 848 minutes with 635 successful passes while conquering the Spurs midfield will miss the semi-final of the Capital One Cup against Sheffield United, the Premier League clash with Southampton and the 5th round FA Cup tie against Leicester City.
Contrastingly, if Algeria goes all the way into the final of the African Cup of Nations to be held on the 8th of February, Spurs will go on to miss the midfielder for a total of six games with the games against Hull City and Stoke, included.
However, the unavailability of Bentaleb seems like to be no headache for Pochettino. Already having four players in the name of Mousa Dembele, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue and Benjamin Stambouli that cost Spurs a combined fee of around 46m will fight it out for Bentalebs position
#3 Stoke City -Mame Biram Diouf
Having arrived at the Britannia from Hannover 96 on a four-year deal, Stoke City manager Mark Hughes considers his team to feel the absence of the Senegalese striker Mame Biram Diouf.
Placed in group C, Senegal starts their AFCON Group C campaign against Ghana in the 19th of January followed by South Africa in the 23rd and Algeria on the 27th and with the surprise exclusion of striker Demba Ba from the Senegal squad, Diouf will be expected to be a key feature in the teams attack beside Papiss Cisse.
While a group exit would see Diouf miss just two games namely the Premier League clash against the relegation-threatened Leicester City followed by the FA Cup tie against Rochdale, Senegal marching all the into the final of the African Cup of Nations would see the striker extend his absence in the Stoke dressing room for two more games in the Premier League against Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle United.
Diouf seemed to have surprised many in his first season at Stoke. Having played for 1,354 minutes, Diouf tops The Potters scoring chart with six goals while laying on the other two for his teammates.
While the 27-year-olds departure would leave a big hole, Mark Hughes has all the possible replacement in the names of Bojan, Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters to cover it up for the Senegalese. While Bojan has scored thrice in his 14 outings for The Potters, Peter Crouch struck the net five times in 23 appearances with the 31-year-old Walters scoring one more than Crouch in his 22 appearances for the club, this season.
#4 Leicester City -Riyad Mahrez
Having moved to Leicester City on the 11th of January 2014 from La Havre, Riyad Mahrez has been the strongest midfielder for The Foxes in the Premier League after being promoted into the glamorous league at the end of last season.
Placed in Group C against the likes of Ghana, Senegal and South Africa, The Desert Warriors holds their fixtures on the 19th, 23rd and 27th of January, meaning the relegation-threatened Leicester City to miss the Algerian for at least further of two more games.
Having missed the game against Aston Villa, Leicester will further be missing the services of Mahrez against Stoke on the 17th followed by an away FA Cup tie against Spurs on the 24th of the same month.
However, thinks could get worse for The Foxes Manager Nigel Pearson if Algeria goes all the way to the final after surviving through the group and knock-out. A step in the finals of the African Cup of Nations would see Riyad Mahrez miss an overall of 4 games including the away tie against Manchester United on the 31st of January.
Having played for 1,216 minutes for The Foxes after spending 10 games out due to injury, Mahrez has 2 goals and 3 assists to his name referring it wont be an easy task for the Manager to replace the Algerian who made 23 chances for the team, the most by any Leicester City player this season.
Anthony Knockaert could be in the books of the manager for the possible replacement of the Algerian. The French attacking midfielder has played 10 games for The Foxes this season while scoring none.
#5 Newcastle United -Papiss Cisse
The departure of the Senegalese Papiss Cisse for the African Cup of Nations is another severe blow to the Toon Army after Alan Pardew, stepping down as the Manager of Newcastle to join the currently 15th placed Crystal Palace in the Barclays Premier League.
With Senegal kicking-off their AFCON Group C campaign against Ghana in the 19th of January followed by
South Africa in the 23rd and Algeria on the 27th, Newcastle are left behind a tough job in their hand.
Having already missed the away clash against Chelsea, Cisse would further miss the game against the Champions League chasing Southampton at St. James Park followed by an away clash against Hull City at the K.C.
However, Senegal managing to storm their way into the finals of the African Cup of Nations would see Cisse miss a further of one more match against Stoke.
Having played for just 633 minutes, Cisse scored 9 goals and assisted one for The Magpies. Definitely, not a bad record but considering the struggle Newcastle had before his return from injury, a doubt remains on if they will be able to find the net in the absence of the Senegalese.
Ayoze Perez looks like to be the only possible replacement, in hand for caretaker Lee Charley. Having played 20 games, Ayoze scored 5 goals with one assist.
Although the stats between the two might differ by a long way, Perez looks to be the only source for the Toon Army to cope up with until the arrival of Cisse.
#6 Manchester City -Yaya Toure
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure is the highest-profile name among the 16 Premier-League players departing for the African Cup of Nations.
With the Elephants kicking of their AFCON campaign against Guinea on the 20th of January followed by a clash against Mali on the 24th and Cameroon on the 28th of January, Toure whove already missed the match against Everton last weekend will further be missing at least of three games.
The former Barcelona midfielder has been regular in the centre of the park for City. Having played for 1,523 minutes while scoring 7 with a lone assist to his name, Toure will be missing an important Premier League Clash against Arsenal at the Etihad followed by a friendly against the German club Hamburger SV and a FA Cup 4th Round tie at home against the Championship side Middlesbrough.
However, if Ivory Coast goes all the way to the final of the African Cup of Nations on the 8th of February, Yaya would miss five of Manchester Citys games including a top of the table clash against Chelsea on the 31st of January at Stamford Bridge.
Besides knowing that it isnt easy to replace the Ivorian international, Manual Pellegrini might just have found the right person. With 5 goals and an assist to his name, Frank Lampard to be an ideal replacement for the 31-year-old in the Manchester City line-up while going on with the regular formation of 4-2-3-1.
