Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are set to face Aston Villa in the Premier League before the new year, but Unai Emery will be without another star player thanks to AFCON
Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal were given unexpected reinforcements after the Aston Villa star was called up late for the African Cup of Nations.
The tournament begins this weekend in Morocco, with the hosts taking on Comoros on Sunday night. The competition will then run until mid-January, with the final scheduled to take place on January 18th at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Fortunately for both London clubs, the tournament will not affect the teams’ availability as they have no players scheduled to take part. But it’s a different story for United, who will have to get through next month without their big names.
The Red Devils will be without Brian Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Nousser Mazraoui, who represent Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Morocco respectively. These three countries, especially Morocco, are likely to advance to the second half of the tournament.
Villa’s next three games are all against top-six opponents, starting with this Sunday’s clash with United. They will then travel to Stamford Bridge after Christmas, before returning to London to face Arsenal before the New Year.
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Ahead of these matches, the Ivorian Football Federation announced that Villa’s Evan Gessando has been called up to represent Villa at AFCON following an injury to Sebastien Haller.
The former West Ham forward was sidelined as a result of an injury sustained earlier this month, but the Villa winger was originally named as one of two substitutes before being called up in his place.
Participating nations can name up to two reserve players who can be called up before the start of the tournament to account for last-minute injury concerns.
Guesand joined Villa from French side Nice in the summer for a fee of around £30 million.
The right winger has so far appeared in 18 games in all competitions, scoring two goals. Both appeared in Europa League matches, the first against the Go Ahead Eagles and the second in the recent away trip to Basel.
Despite Gessando’s struggles in front of goal in the Premier League, Unai Emery’s side are still in good form. They have won their last nine games in all competitions, with their most recent defeat coming against Liverpool at Anfield in early November.
Villa sit third in the league standings behind second-placed Manchester City and current leaders Arsenal. Chelsea and United are not far behind, with 28 and 26 points respectively.
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