This January may lead to a bit more activity than the last one, with clubs scurrying about frantically to secure quick, or short term, cover for their African stars, who have now departed for the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournament that has only one saving grace to the Premier League: Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria have for the first time in recent history, failed to qualify for the tournament in which current champions Egypt are in fact the most successful side with 7 titles.
Had these three heavyweights of Africa qualified, responsible for 13 of the 27 titles to date, instead of the Premier League missing out on 10 first-teamers, it would’ve been expecting more towards a figure of 23, including most notably: Arsenal’s Alex Song, West Brom’s Peter Odemwingie, Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel and Sunderland’s Ahmed Elmohamady. The Gunners will, undoubtedly, be grateful they won’t be missing their peroxide Blond Cameroonian anchor man and Harry Redknapp will be equally glad that the mid-week provider and goal scorer, Song’s fellow countryman Benoit Assou-Ekotto, will be staying in London this January.
However, no fewer than 10 Premier League African internationals will be absent throughout January, possibly into February too, and eight of them represent teams in the top seven. Depending on your opinion, six of them would still consider their team as in the title race. During the last Africa Cup of Nations in 2010, which saw Egypt win their third consecutive title, the Premier League saw 15 players depart for Angola and 7 of them were playing for teams in the European spots. Most affected during the tournament dates, whilst being involved in the title race, were Chelsea, losing four players: Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba and John Obi Mikel.
The loss of their top scorer and midfield lynchpin particularly proved costly and Chelsea slipped from their top spot in the Premier League to third place. On return, Didier Drogba fired Chelsea back to the top of the league, beating Manchester United by one point and finishing top scorer with 29 goals.
This time round, the team at the top can equally be expected to suffer: Manchester City lose Ivorian pair and brothers, Kolo and Yaya Toure and have entered 2012 on shaky ground. Since Christmas, in all competitions, Manchester City have: played 5; won 2; drew 2 and lost 1. Their two losses in their five game run of form coincide with the absence of the Toures. So far this season, Yaya Toure has the highest average amount of passes per 90 minutes – 79.4 and his brother, Kolo, has a 90% pass completion rate. The lack of fluidity such passing brings was evident in Wednesday night’s clash with Liverpool and the absence of the Ivorian pair was worsened when Kolo Toure’s centre-back partner, Vincent Kompany received a 4-game ban for his challenge on Manchester United’s Luis Nani and David Silva limped off at half-time.
With Kompany and Kolo Toure both unavailable for at least the next three games, the centre-back partnership is expected to be aptly filled by the £28m duo of Joleon Lescott and Savic, who between them cost more than the £22m double act of Kompany and K.Toure. Lescott’s transition into the starting line-up should be a smooth one with the England international having played the first 1170 minutes of Premier League football at City anyway and having started all but 4 of City’s 20 PL games this season. Stefan Savic’s inclusion may be seen as a weakness: the Serbian youngster has only played 190 minutes this season and his game against Liverpool highlighted his rashness.