The Africa Cup of Nations – The Fantasy Football Manager’s Guide

The New Year introduces a new dilemma for Fantasy managers and Premier League managers alike. Two international tournaments take place in January, with the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup set to deprive us of a number of key assets.

In this guide to the tournaments, we present the facts on the players and teams affected, whilst providing some analysis of the likely impact of any absentees.

We will host the information in this article in a dedicated page on the site and, once the squads are confirmed and the tournaments are underway, you can revisit this page for updates on the status of the players involved.

When Does the Tournament Take Place?

The Africa Cup of Nations takes place in Equatorial Guinea and kicks off on January 17 and runs through to the final on February 8.

Who will be involved?

The final list of qualifiers looks like this:

Group A: Equatorial Guinea (hosts), Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Burkina Faso.
Group B: Zambia, DR Congo, Cape Verde, Tunisia.
Group C: Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Algeria.
Group D: Ivory Coast, Guinea, Cameroon, Mali.

The nations above have, to this point, named only provisional squads, with the final line-ups due to be announced in the first week of January after initial training camps. For now, we’ve provided a team-by-team breakdown listing those players likely to be involved, based on the provisional listings:

Arsenal: None

Aston Villa: None

Chelsea: None

Crystal Palace: Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo), Adlene Guediora (Algeria)

Everton: Christian Atsu (Ghana)

Hull City: Mo Diame (Senegal)

Leicester City: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Jeffrey Schlupp (Ghana)

Liverpool: Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast)

Man City: Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)

Man United: None

Newcastle: Mehdi Abeid (Algeria), Papiss Cisse (Senegal), Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast)

Queens Park Rangers: None

Southampton: Sadio Mane (Senegal), Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia)

Stoke City: Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal)

Sunderland: None

Swansea City: Wilfried Bony (Ivory Coast)

Tottenham Hotspur: Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria)

West Brom: Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo)

West Ham: Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Diafra Sakho (Senegal)

The notable exception is Alex Song – he has recently been omitted from Cameroon’s provisional squad and therefore looks likely to be available to West Ham during January.

How many Gameweeks will they miss?

The tournament starts on January 17, with the group stages lasting until January 28. However, squads will be gathering for training camps and friendlies well before that date.

Senegal, for example, have announced a training camp for their squad beginning on January 7, with a friendly scheduled on January 13. The Ivory Coast begin even earlier, with their squad reporting for training on January 5, while DR Congo begin their camp on January 2.

This will mean that players are set to depart their Premier League teams before or after the FA Cup third round, ruling them out of Gameweek 21 on January 10-11.

All players will also miss Gameweek 22, while it’s possible that players in teams that are eliminated in the group stages could return to their clubs in time for Gameweek 23, which begins on January 31.

In a nutshell, all players are set to miss at least two, probably three, Premier League matches. Those who progress past the group stages will miss further league fixtures.

The quarter-finals take place between January 31 and February 1, so players eliminated at that stage could return in time for Gameweek 24.

The semi-finals are on February 4 and 5. Those knocked out at that point could still travel to return to their clubs for Gameweek 24 but would seem unlikely to be involved.

The final and third-place playoff takes place on February 7 and 8. Any player involved in those matches would be highly unlikely to return for Gameweek 25, which takes place in midweek on February 10-11.

It’s possible, then, that some players may miss five league fixtures.

Gameweek 21 (Jan 10-11) – Training camps and friendlies – all players missing.
Gameweek 22 (Jan 17-19) – Group stages – all players missing.
Gameweek 23 (Jan 31- Feb 1) – Those eliminated in the group stages will return but will be fatigued through travel.
Gameweek 24 (Feb 7-8) – Eliminated quarter-finalists will be back. Eliminated semi-finalists unlikely to be available.
Gameweek 25 (Feb 10-11) – All players available except those involved in third-place playoff and final.

Who’s likely to be most affected?

Much depends on a nation’s progress in the tournament. According to Paddy Power’s current odds, the favourites look like this:

Ivory Coast 4/1
Algeria 5/1
Ghana 13/2
Tunisia 7/1
Cameroon 10/1
Senegal 12/1

The Ivory Coast are favourites, then, and should they justify those odds, it’s clear that this would have a major impact of Manchester City and Swansea due to the absence of both Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony – potentially until Gameweek 26.

The Asian Cup

The African Cup of Nations isn’t the only international tournament taking place in January.

The Asian Cup is also being staged in Australia and, again, a number of Premier League clubs will lose players during the month as a result.

The tournament begins on January 9 and ends with the final on January 31.

The following clubs and players are to be affected:

Aston Villa: Chris Herd (Australia)
Crystal Palace: Mile Jedinak (Australia)
Southampton: Maya Yoshida (Japan)
Swansea: Ki Sung-yueng (Korean Republic)
West Bromwich Albion: Jason Davidson (Australia)

Queens Park Rangers’ Yun Suk-Young has not been included in the South Korea squad due to injury concerns.

Group stages end on January 20, so players eliminated at this stage may only miss Gameweeks 21 and 22.

The players who reach the semi-finals on January 26 and 27 are unlikely to return in time to take part in Gameweek 23.

All players will be back with their clubs and rested enough to participate in Gameweek 24 on February 7 and 8.

Conclusion

It’s clear that there are five Premier League teams who will suffer major disruption as a result of these tournaments.

Crystal Palace will lose arguably their two best players in skipper Mile Jedinak and winger Yannick Bolasie. Whilst the latter is set to be absent from Gameweek 21 to 23 at the very least, Jedinak is already unavailable for this Thursday’s trip to Villa after Palace were denied permission to delay his departure. This will both weaken their defensive resolve and nullify their main attacking ploy at a time when a new manager is due to take the reins. It will mean that Wilfried Zaha is destined to cement his starting role for a run of three fixtures (TOT, bur, EVE), while in midfield, there is no natural successor to Jedinak in the midfield engine room – James McArthur will likely shift back alongside Joe Ledley, with Marouane Chamakh’s return from a hamstring injury becoming more urgent as a result. Once fit, he’ll be earmarked to return to the withdrawn number 10 role behind a lone striker.

Like Palace, Swansea are set to lose a key midfielder and their main attacking threat. Ki Sung-yueng’s absence can be covered by both Leon Britton and Tom Carroll, with Jonjo Shelvey also available to Garry Monk in this area. Wilfried Bony’s absence is far more troubling, although the recent capture of Nelson Oliveira on loan from Benfica will go some way to compensating for his loss – we’ll bring you a Scout Report on the Portugal striker next week. Bafetimbi Gomis is the other option available to Monk and he may even tempt some Fantasy interest should he look assured of starts over Gameweeks 21-23 (WHM, CHE ,sot).

West Ham look set to cling to Alex Song in their midfield after his surprise omission from the Cameroon squad but will still lose both Cheikhou Kouyate in midfield and Diafra Sakho up front. In both cases, the Hammers have ready replacements: Mark Noble’s return to fitness is timely and he and Morgan Amalfitano will compete for a start, depending on Sam Allardyce’s midfield setup. Up front, Sakho’s role will be taken up by Enner Valencia who should get a run of starts from Gameweek 21-21 (swa, HUL, liv).

Leicester City’s loss of both Riyad Mahrez and Jeffrey Schlupp will deprive them of both their first-choice wing threats. Mahrez, in particular, will be a major loss given his recent run of form which has seen him return a goal and two assists in his last five starts. Nigel Pearson will likely alter the shape of his midfield to compensate – converting to a diamond formation. Alternatively, Anthony Knockaert and Marc Albrighton may come into contention for starts, or Jamie Vardy may shift to a wide role.

Papiss Cisse’s departure may well coincide with a three-match ban handed out by the FA following Sunday’s incident with Seamus Coleman, which could see the Senegal striker miss at least the next four Gameweeks. Ayoze Perez is all set to benefit in the short term, moving back to a central attacking role in Cisse’s absence. The loss of Cheick Tiote to the Ivory Coast’s campaign will be less of a blow, although with Mehdi Abeid also set to join up with Algeria, the Magpies will be depleted in central midfield, with Vurnon Anitia set to be promoted in the midfield pecking order. Moussa Sissoko could also have his potential tempered somewhat should he be considered for a deeper role in the double-pivot alongside Jack Colback.

Southampton will lose Sadio Mane to the Senegal squad at a time when the attacker is beginning to find his Premier League feet. Ronald Koeman was quick to find a like-for-like replacement, sealing a deal for Eljero Elia on loan from German side Werder Bremen. He’s another player we’ll be featuring in a Scout Report prior to Gameweek 21. Elia and Shane Long are likely to benefit from Mane’s departure.

Yaya Toure’s absence will likely be the most influential, however. Manchester City struggled for superiority against Burnley with Toure sidelined on Sunday and, with the Ivorian set to be missing from Gameweek 21-23 at the very least, we could see City’s results and Fantasy output waver somewhat. In Fantasy terms, the major impact could be dead-ball duties. With Sergio Aguero sidelined and Toure absent, it’s not clear who would take on spot-kick responsibilities, although it’s fair to say that David Silva, Stevan Jovetic and Samir Nasri will be in the hat for them, as well as direct free-kicks, while Toure is out of the side.

Rate My Team Updates

If you’re a member, you can now view your Fantasy Premier League squad in the Build My Team section to see how the January tournaments are likely to affect your squad. We will be updating Rate My Team and our projections throughout the competitions to reflect those players who remain on international duty until their respective nations are eliminated.