AFCON And The Premier League Players Set To Feature

It’s a hectic time of the year for Premier League clubs, with matches coming thick and fast over the Christmas period.

There’s even more to contend with this season for managers though, with many clubs suffering Covid outbreaks which have left teams depleted and forced several matches to be postponed already.

Those gaps in squads are only going to get worse though, as the Africa Cup of Nations approaches. The tournament gets underway in Cameroon on January 9, but players involved are expected to leave their clubs either in late December or early January.

With the final scheduled for February 6, Premier League teams face being without some of their star players for over a month. Liverpool, for example, will have to find a way to cope without both Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, while Crystal Palace will be without Wilfried Zaha.

Here’s a full list of the Premier League players that have been picked in their country’s squad for the tournament so far.

(Burkina Faso, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe have not yet announced their squads)

Arsenal:
Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast)

Burnley:
Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast)

Chelsea:
Edouard Mendy (Senegal)

Crystal Palace:
Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast), Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal)

Leicester:
Nampalys Mendy (Senegal)

Liverpool:
Sadio Mane (Senegal), Naby Keita (Guinea)

Manchester City:
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)

Manchester United:
Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast)

Watford:
Adam Masina (Morocco), Imran Louza (Morocco), Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)

West Ham:
Said Benrahma (Algeria)

Wolves:
Romain Saiss (Morocco), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast)