Arsenal and Manchester City aren’t too bothered by the AFCON absences, how will the other clubs cope?

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicks off on Sunday, January 9 and will affect almost every Premier League club. Bread may be broken in the battle to qualify for next year’s Champions League, as well as in remaining in England’s top league competition itself. Which players will swap the club jersey for the national team jersey in the coming weeks?

Despite a large absence with almost no weakening

Arsenal will release five players for the championship in Cameroon, but only Thomas Partey is currently in the starting line-up. Mikel Arteta can solve the midfielder’s absence by withdrawing Martin Odegaard to join Granit Xhaka, or by deploying Sambi Lokonga. Emil Smith Rowe could also return to the starting lineup.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe and Mohamed Elneny will also be on national team duty. However, neither of them are currently in the Spanish coach’s plans and it is likely that this trio will play their last season at the Emirates Stadium.

One player = big trouble?

Although the absence of one player may seem like a minimal setback, in the case of Burnley we are talking about the opposite. Maxwel Cornet is only in his first season at Turf Moor, but the Ivory Coast international can be talked about as one of the Clarets‘ biggest stars.

The former Lyon player has already scored six times, accounting for more than a third of the goals scored by the currently eighteenth Premier League side. Any goal scored from the twenty-five-year-old winger’s boot could mean salvation.

Sean Dyche can be happy that Cornet will miss the “only” games against Leicester and Arsenal (and Manchester United in the case of Ivory Coast’s final participation). But even a draw and any points could be worth gold to Burnley.

Guardiola is not bothered by AFCON

Manchester City will only release Riyad Mahrez for the African championship, and although he has scored thirteen goals and five assists in the current season, it will be easy for Pep Guardiola to cope with the absence of the Algerian winger.

The table leader has a really wide squad at his disposal and the Spanish coach rotates the line-up at virtually every position, every game. Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva or Ilkay Gündogan.

We’ve listed virtually all of the Citizens’ offensive players, qualitatively, Guardiola will not lack. With a ten-point lead at the top of the table, the blue side of Manchester need not worry about Mahrez’s absence.

Salt in the Blues’ open wound

Thomas Tuchel’s team has been plagued by personnel issues (illness, injuries) in recent weeks. The situation surrounding Romelu Lukaku hasn’t helped the weakened squad either. Moreover, AFCON will deprive the German coach of two players – Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech.

Mendy is the unshakable number one between the three poles this season, so in the next matches the Blues ‘ defence will have to rely on Kepa, who has only played six games. But when he did come on, he didn’t disappoint.

The absence of Ziyech, who has watched the last three games from the substitutes’ bench, will cause one less option in terms of offense. We’ll see how Tuchel puts together his offensive line in the cup games. The former Ajax Amsterdam midfielder would certainly get a chance.

Will the Eagles lose their wingers?

Patrick Vieira will be a big worry in the coming weeks. Wilfred Zaha, Jordan Ayew, Cheikhou Kouyate and Jeffrey Schlupp have accounted for eight league goals in the current season and are among the mainstays of the line-up.

Crystal Palace have important league clashes with Brighton and Norwich, which could shoot the Eagles into the top half of the table. Can they handle these games without key players?

You can read how the African tournament will affect Liverpool here.

Source: Talksport, Transfermarkt, Livesport