The 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is set to commence on 9th January 2022 in Cameroon and with this revelation, European clubs are set to lose most of their (key) players who would be gearing to represent their respective national teams.
The tournament’s awkward place on the calendar means it is going to affect some club’s momentum during the second phase of the season.
Amid a report from football.london, Premier League clubs are said to be seriously affected by this development compared to other counterparts. Unlike other Premier League clubs, Tottenham Hotspur has surprisingly emerged as the only London club without an African representative in their squad after the departure of Serge Aurier during this summer transfer window.
Other London club sides like Arsenal (4), Brentford (3), Chelsea (2), Crystal Palace (4), and Watford (5) has quite a number of players potentially to be called upon in January.
Among Premier League clubs, almost all the topflight 20 teams have a potential representative(s) except for Leeds United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, West Ham, and of course, Tottenham.
Key players like Thomas Partey, Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Trezeguet, Traore, Frank Onyeka Yves Bissouma, Maxwel Cornet, Edouard Mendy, Hakim Ziyech, Zaha, Schlupp, Kouyate, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Iwobi, Ndidi, Iheanacho, Mohammed Salah, Keita, Mane, Mahrez, Eric Bailly, Salisu, Etebo, Ismaila Sarr, Emmanuel Dennis, Troost-Ekong, Romain Saiss, etc, are expected to miss at least a month of Premier League games between January to February 2022.
PLAYERS TO MISS TOTTENHAM GAME
As the AFCON 2021 tournament is scheduled to ensue from January 9 to February 6, 2022, during this period the Spurs are set to play against strong oppositions like Watford (A), Arsenal (H), Chelsea (A) and Southampton (H). Based on these fixtures, opponent players likely to miss Tottenham’s game are WATFORD: Emmanuel Dennis (Nigeria), William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria), Peter Etebo (Nigeria), Adam Masina (Morocco), Ismaila Sarr (Senegal). ARSENAL: Mohamed Elneny (Egypt), Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Thomas Partey (Ghana), Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast). CHELSEA: Hakim Ziyech (Morocco), Edouard Mendy (Senegal). SOUTHAMPTON: Moussa Djenepo (Mali).
TOTTENHAM’s POSITION
Tottenham has played 17 matches thus far this season, winning 9 matches 4 draws, and 4 defeats under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo. Goals from Heung-Min Son (6), Harry Kane (6), Dele Alli (4), Lucas Moura (3), Giovani Lo Celso (2), Pierre-Emil Hoejbjerg (2), Steven Bergwijn (1), Tanguy Ndombele Alvaro (1), Dane Scarlett (1) has earned Tottenham Hotspur an 8th position on the league table despite their strong early start in the league.
With the run of fixtures being lined up in January 2022, Tottenham are set to be the luckiest Premier League club, but will Nuno Santo Espirito be able to take advantage of this situation to gather maximum points?
