Premier League title race rests on competition Klopp called "little tournament"
The final international break of 2023 has arrived with Liverpool being talked up as title contenders and manager Jurgen Klopp justifiably complaining about the decision to schedule their crunch clash with Manchester City for lunchtime on Saturday week.
But it will be the next window for some players to represent their country that looks set to define whether they can push reigning champions City all the way.
The Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on January 13 and Mo Salah headlines the long list of Premier League stars who could end up missing a full month of action.
Salah will captain Egypt, who were beaten finalists in the previous edition, and is set to miss a quartet of league games for Klopp’s team - including meetings with Chelsea and Arsenal.
The Reds might also be without centre back Joel Matip if he is selected by Cameroon, while summer signing Wataru Endo is expected to be with Japan at the Asian Cup, which runs concurrently with AFCON.
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In total 49 Premier League players are eligible to be called up for AFCON - and only City and Newcastle among the 20 clubs are not in line to be impacted.
Nottingham Forest are set to lose the most players with eight members of Steve Cooper’s squad available for selection, including a trio of Ivorians and three more Nigeria internationals.
Four Manchester United players could be away, including summer signings Andre Onana and Sofyan Amrabat, while Tottenham ’s first choice central midfield pairing of Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are set for call ups.
Ange Postecolgou must also plan without captain Son Heung-min as he will be part of South Korea’s Asian Cup squad, alongside Wolves star Hwang Hee-chan.
Son will miss a month of club action to represent South Korea in the Asian Cup. (Son Heung-Min was unable to break the deadlock on a day when Spurs had two dozen attempts but failed to make any count.)Arsenal’s Thomas Partey faces a race to be fit for Ghana, while clubmate Mo Elneny should be in the Egypt squad. Takehiro Tomiyasu will represent Japan in the Asian Cup.
West Ham are also set to lose Nayef Aguerd plus forwards Mohammed Kudus, Maxwell Cornet and Said Benrahma, while Brentford must plan without attacking duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.
But it is the Salah loss that could stand out. When he was guiding Egypt to the final in January 2022, only to be beaten by then team-mate Sadio Mane’s Senegal, Liverpool played only two league games but had a two-legged EFL Cup semi-final against Arsenal and a pair of FA Cup games versus lower league opposition.
They won five from six, the outlier being a draw in the first leg against the Gunners, but Klopp was in hot water after jokingly branding AFCON “a little tournament.”
He was latest asked to apologise for the comment and said: "I am not a native speaker but if you want to misunderstand me, it was not my intention. You made something more of it. That is not too cool."
Premier League stars heading to AFCON
Algeria: Said Benrahma (West Ham), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolves)
Burkina Faso: Bertrand Traore (Aston Villa), Dango Ouattara ( Bournemouth ) Issa Kabore (Luton)
Cameroon: Andre Onana (Man Utd), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford), Joel Matip (Liverpool)
DR Congo: Yoane Wissa (Brentford), Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu (Luton)
Egypt: Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Ghana: Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth), Tariq Lamptey ( Brighton ), Jordan Ayew, Jeffrey Schlupp (both Crystal Palace ), Mohammed Kudus (West Ham)
Ivory Coast: Hamed Traore (Bournemouth), Simon Adingra (Brighton), Amad Diallo (Man Utd), Serge Aurier, Willy Boly, Ibrahim Sangare (all Nottingham Forest), Benie Traore (Sheff Utd), Maxwell Cornet (West Ham)
Mali: Cheick Doucoure (Crystal Palace), Abdoulaye Doucoure ( Everton ), Ismaila Coulibaly (Sheffield Utd), Yves Bissouma (Tottenham), Boubacar Traore (Wolves)
Morocco: Anass Zaroury ( Burnley ), Sofyan Amrabat (Man Utd), Nayef Aguerd (West Ham)
Nigeria: Ola Aina, Emmanuel Dennis, Taiwo Awoniyi (all Nottingham Forest), Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi (both Fulham ), Frank Onyeka (Brentford)
Senegal: Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea), Idrissa Gueye (Everton) Cheikhou Kouyate, Moussa Niakhate (both Nottingham Forest), Pape Matar Sarr (Spurs)
South Africa: Lyle Foster (Burnley)
Tunisia: Samy Chouchane (Brighton), Hannibal Mejbri (Man Utd), Anis Ben Slimane (Sheffield Utd)
Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia: No players
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Premier League stars heading to Asian Cup
Iran: Saman Ghoddos (Brentford)
Japan: Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton).
South Korea: Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Hwang Hee-Chan (Wolves).
Australia, Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam: No players
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