Despite the Omicron variant of Covid's rampaging progress, the Africa Cup of Nations is currently due to go ahead as planned, the tournament which had been postponed for one year is due to kick off on January the 9th 2022 and runs until the 6th of February. ALL participating players Have to be in Africa TEN days ahead of the event starting, as a result Premier League players will miss the Premier League fixtures due to be played on New Year's day.
Hammers rivals on New Year's day are Crystal Palace, they might be losing up to four first team players for AFCON, Wilfried Zaha, Cheikhou Kouyate, Jeffrey Schlupp and Jordan Ayew are ALL scheduled to travel. Hammers only have to contend with the loss of one player, Said Benrahma.
The Premier League's most affected team are Watford, who stand to miss FIVE players, Arsenal, Leicester and Palace with FOUR, followed by Brentford, Liverpool and Villa who have to send THREE players, Chelsea, Everton, Man Utd and Southampton send TWO, Brighton, Burnley, Man City and West Ham have only ONE player going, Leeds, Newcastle, Norwich and Tottingham have NONE.
Bearing in mind how tight the top of the table is, losing players could seriously impact on certain clubs, particularly Palace and those other clubs who have to send significant amount of players away. Of course none of the players should really be jetting off during such uncertain times, unfortunately the 'financial beast' still reigns strong in football, so players will be risked irrespective of their personal welfare in order to line the coffers of FIFA and the African federations.
Premier League clubs have been accused of greed and complacency during the Covid Pandemic, surely it would have been in their collective interests to offer compensation to the competing nations at AFCON in order to keep players safe, or do they just see them as commodities? - ED
