In mid-November, we put out a mammoth read into which players could be good, short-term Fantasy Premier League (FPL) punts while particular teammates are away at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
- READ MORE: How to play AFCON Fantasy 2025
- READ MORE: AFCON Fantasy 2025 Fixture Ticker
A month later, and now that we know who has a call-up and who hasn’t, let’s revisit the topic.
HOW MANY PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS ARE AT AFCON?
There are 33 players off to AFCON, all but one of whom will be unable to play club football from Gameweek 17 onwards. Habib Diarra (£5.3m) is the one exception; he won’t leave till after this weekend.
This list includes Mohamed Salah (£14.0m), Bryan Mbeumo (£8.2m), Iliman Ndiaye (£6.3m), Ismaila Sarr (£6.4m) and Reinildo Mandava (£3.9m).
However, nations like Ghana, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau didn’t qualify. That keeps Antoine Semenyo (£7.6m), Mohammed Kudus (£6.4m), Yankuba Minteh (£6.1m) and Beto (£5.0m) on UK soil.
HOW LONG WILL THEY BE AWAY FOR?
As seen previously, they’ll all be absent for at least three FPL Gameweeks during the group stage.
Yet those representing the semi-finalists will miss six of them, unavailable until late January’s Gameweek 23.
POTENTIAL AFCON REPLACEMENTS
Firstly, five Premier League sides are unaffected. Nobody from Arsenal, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Leeds United or Newcastle United has been called up to take part.
Here is a club-by-club guide as to which FPL assets are in their countries’ squads, alongside some players who could step up and get more game time.
| TEAM | AT AFCON | POSSIBILITIES |
|---|---|---|
| ASTON VILLA | Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast) | Guessand has started only once in the last six Gameweeks, so his absence is not going to be keenly felt. |
| BRENTFORD | Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso) Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) | FPL defender Keane Lewis-Potter (£4.8m) or Reiss Nelson (£4.8m) could replace Ouattara out wide, but Onyeka hasn’t started a league game since 2023/24. |
| BRIGHTON | Carlos Baleba (Cameroon) | The fit-again Yasin Ayari (£4.8m) will likely slip straight back into the Brighton XI this weekend. |
| BURNLEY | Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo) Lyle Foster (South Africa) Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia) | Mejbri rarely starts, but Foster’s exit leaves a bit of a gap; he’s been playing on the flanks in recent weeks, so Jaidon Anthony (£5.2m) or Loum Tchaouna (£4.9m) could get a recall. More minutes are expected for budget-friendly defender Hjalmar Ekdal (£3.9m) with Tuanzebe away. |
| C PALACE | Ismaila Sarr (Senegal) | There’s no mystery as to who is going to step in for Sarr this week, with Oliver Glasner confirming that Eddie Nketiah (£5.4m) will start! |
| EVERTON | Idrissa Gueye (Senegal) Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal) | Combined with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s (£5.1m) hamstring issue, we could see more of Carlos Alcaraz (£5.2m), Dwight McNeil (£5.5m) and/or Tyler Dibling (£5.3m) in attack. Tim Iroegbunam (£4.8m) likely fills in for Gueye. |
| FULHAM | Calvin Bassey (Nigeria) Alex Iwobi (Nigeria) Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria) | Wednesday’s strong EFL Cup lineup brought in Jorge Cuenca (£4.3m), Sasa Lukic (£5.0m), and club record signing Kevin (£5.8m). It’s possible that semi-popular budget asset Joshua King (£4.5m) could get a bump, too, with Emile Smith Rowe (£5.6m) moving to the left to cover Chukwueze. |
| LIVERPOOL | Mohamed Salah (Egypt) | Salah hadn’t started the last four Gameweeks anyway, so Liverpool’s XI isn’t overly affected! As Cody Gakpo (£7.4m) is injured, we could see more of the 4-4-2 diamond – as seen in Milan – that pairs Hugo Ekitike (£8.6m) and Alexander Isak (£10.3m). Sadly for Isak, that probably won’t come this weekend. |
| MAN CITY | Omar Marmoush (Egypt) Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria) | There’s now less rotation threat for Nico O’Reilly (£5.3m), a starter in 12 of the last 13 league matches. Marmoush was barely impacting Erling Haaland‘s (£15.0m) minutes anyway but it’s one less wing alternatives to Phil Foden (£8.8m) and Rayan Cherki (£6.5m). |
| MAN UTD | Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon) Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast) Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco) | Wing-back decimation could make Patrick Dorgu (£4.1m) a potential bargain, though he’s recently been out of form and favour. The ‘xMins’ of Matheus Cunha (£7.9m), Mason Mount (£5.9m) and Benjamin Sesko (£7.2m) suddenly look much better with ’10’ options Mbeumo and Amad gone. |
| NOTTM FOREST | Willy Boly (Ivory Coast) Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast) | Douglas Luiz (£4.9m) is the likeliest replacement for Sangare, though Nicolas Dominguez (£5.0m) also lingers. Boly is peripheral anyway. |
| SUNDERLAND | Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso) Noah Sadiki (DR Congo) Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo) Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco) Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique) Habib Diarra (Senegal) | Diarra has been missing since Gameweek 4, while Masuaku is barely used. That means the wingers, central midfield and left-back spots are most affected. One slight boost is that Simon Adingra (£4.9m) isn’t going, so he can start wide, as could Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m) and Romaine Mundle (£4.9m). Trai Hume (£4.5m) is more likely to play left-back than Dennis Cirkin (£4.0m), while we could see Lutsharel Geertruida (£4.5m) out of position next to Granit Xhaka (£5.2m). |
| TOTTENHAM | Yves Bissouma (Mali) Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal) | Bissouma has been injured or out of favour all season, but Sarr gets minutes. Central midfield is still too tough to call on a week-to-week basis, as it could be any combination of Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.3m), Joao Palhinha (£5.5m), Archie Gray (£4.8m) and Lucas Bergvall (£5.3m). |
| WEST HAM | Aaron Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo) El Hadji Malick Diouf (Senegal) | This almost certainly brings the versatile Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.2m) into one of the wing-back/full-back roles, with Ollie Scarles (£4.3m) possibly in line for the other. |
| WOLVES | Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast) Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe) | There have been just 21 minutes of league action for Chirewa, but centre-back Agbadou has started the last five. Either Ladislav Krejci (£4.5m) shifts there from midfield, or Santiago Bueno (£4.4m) could enter the fray. He was a regular starter before Rob Edwards took over. |
HIGHLIGHTS
The lack of Rayan Ait-Nouri should lock in more minutes for Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly, and West Ham United’s Kyle Walker-Peters will almost certainly fill in while full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf are away.
After starting five of Manchester United’s first six, Patrick Dorgu has fallen out of favour. Now just £4.1m, could it be him and Diogo Dalot as the wing-backs?
There’s a slight chance that Ruben Amorim changes formation, something we’ve seen Arne Slot recently experiment with. As Salah is away and Cody Gakpo has an injury, will Liverpool partner Hugo Ekitike with Alexander Isak? We don’t think it’ll happen this weekend but it’s one to watch out for.
It was interesting to see FPL defender Keane Lewis-Potter on the left wing during Kevin Schade’s (£7.0m) one-match suspension in Gameweek 16. The latter is back, but maybe Lewis-Potter could start on the right of attack, just like in Gameweek 1.
Quite frankly, there’s a lot of Sunderland uncertainty, with so many going away. It should at least bring Simon Adingra back into the mix.
Finally, over at Everton, their positive fixture swing starts in Gameweek 18. Their imminent lineup versus Arsenal could give clues as to which differential midfielders David Moyes will use.
