Mohamed Salah among full list of Premier League players in AFCON and Asian Cup
Mohamed Salah heads the list of mid-season absentees as bosses keep their collective fingers crossed for their stars' safe return.
The Egyptian heads off to the Ivory Coast this week to compete in the Africa Cup of Nations - a competition which could see him miss up to SEVEN games for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp's side are currently three points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
If his country is successful, the Premier League's joint leading scorer won’t return to play for the Reds until an away fixture at Brentford in mid-February as his boss contemplates reaching the Carabao Cup final and progressing in the FA Cup without him.
The hole left in Liverpool's frontline may turn out to be not as big if Egypt do not progress beyond the group stages as there are only two more top-flight fixtures for the current league leaders to play this month. The AFCON final is pencilled in for February 11.
The situation for many clubs is compounded as the Asia Cup is taking place at the same time. Along with Liverpool, Tottenham are another who will be hit hard as captain Son Heung-min is set to link up with South Korea.
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The striker is only two behind Salah in the goalscoring charts and with a continuing injury to James Maddison, the loss of a forward who has already found the net a dozen times this season will be keenly felt.
Liverpool will miss Mohamed Salah during the Africa Cup of Nations (Getty Images)Are you looking forward to the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup? Let us know in the comments below!
And while boss Ange Postecoglou appears to take most things in his stride, even he will have grimaced at the news that Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma will also be missing as they join Senegal and Mali for their shot at glory.
In terms of numbers, Nottingham Forest will be hardest hit. In all, new boss Nuno Espirito Santo will lose six players from what is an extensive cast list at the City Ground. Three are playing for the host nation - Ibrahim Sangare, Willy Boly and Serge Aurier - will all no doubt want to be a part of the festival on their own soil.
Another losing a man in form in front of goal is Wolves boss Gary O’Neil. Hwang Hee-chan has shoved himself among the stellar names that usually dominate the scoring charts, bagging 10. And the Molineux chief will also have to make do without one of his other frontline players with left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri disappearing to play for Algeria.
At Old Trafford, boss Erik ten Hag has only just welcomed Andre Onana as his regular No.1 and he will be joining up with Cameroon while Sofyan Amrabat will also be missing as he joins up with last year’s World Cup semi-finalists Morocco.
Of the rest, David Moyes will no doubt lament the gap left in his side when Mohammed Kudus quits temporarily to undertake his duties with Ghana while Nicolas Jackson may regret the international call, particularly if Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino goes shopping for an A-list forward.
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