Which Premier League teams will be affected by the Africa Cup of Nations?

The Africa Cup of Nations begins on Sunday in Morocco. Thirty-two Premier League players have been selected to represent their national teams at the tournament but some clubs will be hit harder than others.

Sunderland have enjoyed an excellent return to the Premier League, with their derby win over Newcastle on Sunday taking them to 26 points from 16 games. They have already picked up more points than the three promoted clubs did last season – Leicester (25), Ipswich (22) and Southampton (12). However, they will have some key absentees over the next month. Six Sunderland players will be with their national teams, representing nearly a fifth of all Premier League players at the tournament, and double the tally of any other club.

In losing Bertrand Traoré (Burkina Faso), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique) and Habib Diarra (Senegal), Sunderland will be without players who have played a cumulative 4,412 minutes and 61 appearances in the Premier League this season – a higher total than any other side.

Sadiki has missed just 26 minutes in the league this season and looks to be their biggest miss of all. The tireless midfielder, who joined from Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer, plays a key role in building possession from deep-lying positions on the pitch alongside Granit Xhaka, while being an adept ball-winner too.

Sadiki (eight) is one of Sunderland’s top seven chance creators in the league this term, as are fellow Afcon absentees Traoré (eight) and Talbi (seven). The only consolation for Régis Le Bris is that Côte d’Ivoire have left Simon Adingra out of their squad for the tournament.

Three players

Manchester United pair Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo made their way to the tournament after their entertaining 4-4 draw with Bournemouth on Monday. Amad scored the opening goal and Mbeumo was a threat throughout. He is United’s top scorer in the league this season with six goals. He has also created 17 chances from open play in the current campaign – the third highest return in the squad behind Amad (25) and Bruno Fernandes (30). Noussair Mazraoui will represent hosts Morocco at the tournament, but the full-back has played just 442 minutes of league action this season.

Fulham are losing Nigerian trio Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey and Samuel Chukwueze. Should they reach the final on 18 January, as they did at the last Afcon, Fulham will be without them for at least six league games. Iwobi and Bassey have featured in all 16 of Fulham’s league matches this season, with Iwobi their leading chance creator (23). Chukwueze has become a key part of the side and has five goal involvements in his last five league appearances (two goals, three assists). Only Harry Wilson (eight) has more goal involvements (six) for Fulham this season.

Burnley are also losing three players, with defender Axel Tuanzebe, midfielder Hannibal Mejbri and forward Lyle Foster off to represent DR Congo, Tunisia and South Africa, respectively.

Two players

Of the seven Premier League clubs losing two players, Everton will probably feel the biggest impact. Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, who will both represent Senegal, have featured regularly for the Toffees. Ndiaye is one of the team’s main attacking threats; no Everton player has more goal involvements than him (six) this term, and only Jack Grealish (28) has created more chances than the Senegal international (16).

West Ham will lose their first-choice full-backs, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka representing DR Congo and El Hadji Malick Diouf named in Senegal’s squad. The Hammers do not fire in many crosses from open play – their tally of 176 is the fifth lowest in the league – but, when they do, Diouf (48) and Wan-Bissaka (20) account for nearly 40% of them. Diouf is also West Ham’s leading assist provider in the league this season (three), while these two rank first (Wan-Bissaka: 21) and second (Diouf: 16) for interceptions.

Illustration: Opta

Manchester City are losing two players who haven’t played much league football, with Omar Marmoush (206 minutes) off to represent Egypt and Rayan Aït-Nouri (205) playing for Algeria. They have at least feature more than both Yves Bissouma (Tottenham and Mali) and Willy Boly (Nottingham Forest and Côte d’Ivoire), who are heading to Morocco without having played a single minute in the Premier League this term.

Forest will undoubtedly feel the absence of Ibrahim Sangaré, though. The Côte d’Ivoire midfielder has appeared in 13 of their 16 Premier League games this season and ranks inside the top five Forest players for both tackles (third, with 27) and interceptions (fifth, with 10). He also signed off in style in the 3-0 win over Spurs on Sunday, becoming the first Forest player to provide a goal and two assists in a Premier League game since Steve Stone against QPR in May 1996.

Forest could have lost even more players, but Nigerian pair Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi didn’t receive call-ups. They are both both carrying injuries, though, so Sean Dyche might not be able to use them much over the festive period anyway.

One player

Although Brighton, Crystal Palace and Liverpool are only losing one player each, all three are influential figures. Mohamed Salah is probably the biggest name playing at the tournament and he is leaving following a very public fallout. After being the key man as Liverpool won the title last season, Salah has been given a reduced role in the last month by Arne Slot.

His performance levels have dropped, but Salah has still been involved in seven of Liverpool’s league goals (four goals, three assists) and has the joint-most shot involvements (68, level with Mbeumo) among Premier League players heading to the tournament. Eight of those came in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Brighton at the weekend, when he set up Hugo Ekitiké’s second goal. He has now reached 277 Premier League goal involvements for Liverpool, a new record by a player for a single club.

Ismaïla Sarr returned for Crystal Palace for their defeat to Manchester City following a short-term injury, but he heads off again for a month after being selected by Senegal. A key player for both club and country, Sarr (eight) trails only Jean-Philippe Mateta (nine) for goals in all competitions this season at Palace.

Carlos Baleba has played in all 16 of Brighton’s league matches in the current campaign, after missing just four games last season. No Brighton player has made more interceptions than him (61) since the start of last season, while only Mats Wieffer (102) has made more tackles than the Cameroon international (97).

No players

Six clubs will not lose any players. The Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Leeds and Newcastle squads will remain fully stocked throughout the festive period and January.

Bournemouth are perhaps the most fortunate, with Ghana’s failure to qualify meaning their most influential player, Antoine Semenyo, remains with the side. Semenyo has been involved in 10 of Bournemouth’s league goals this season (seven goals, three assists). Amine Adli was not called up by Morocco, and nor was Hamed Traoré for reigning champions Côte d’Ivoire, although the latter has been on the pitch for just 16 minutes in the league this term.

Yoane Wissa has been one of the most influential players for DR Congo in recent years but, despite finally making his Newcastle debut earlier this month, his recovery from injury came too late to make their Afcon squad – a Christmas bonus for Eddie Howe.

Like Bournemouth, Tottenham will also be pleased Ghana did not qualify as it means they keep their top assist provider Mohammed Kudus. He has five assists in the league this season, more than double any other Spurs player, while only Bruno Fernandes (seven) and Rayan Cherki (six) have more in the whole division.

This is an article by Opta Analyst