Two major international tournaments will take place during this Premier League season.
The AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) and Asian Cup will kick off in mid-January, and more than 50 Premier League players are likely to be called up for the two tournaments. This will have a profound effect on our Fantasy Premier League teams.
So with the gameweeks coming thick and fast, we need to start planning for the implications now to navigate this period. Here’s everything you need to know…
When will players be missing?
AFCON starts on January 13 and finishes on February 11, 2024. The Asian Cup will take place between January 12 and February 10, 2024.
Both will clash with FPL Gameweeks 21 to 24, which means players who are set to participate can miss a lot of matches depending on how far their countries go. Anyone progressing to the final would miss at least four games.
The winter break this season takes place in Gameweek 21, therefore players who are eliminated during the group stages may only miss one gameweek.
The below from Rob T gives a very good visual overview of when players are likely to return based on how far they get in their respective tournaments.
Who might be missing?
Below is a list of all players eligible to play in the AFCON and Asian Cup tournaments from each team.
Brentford
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What are the biggest FPL implications?
The three most popular players who are due to set off are Mohamed Salah (£13.1m), Son Heung-min (£9.6m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m), who is injured. Hwang Hee-chan (£5.7m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) are also highly owned. Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.5m) has announced that he will not be joining Mali for AFCON. Other players to take particular note of are:
There is no need to start selling these players yet, but we have to be careful that we aren’t transferring in too many that will be unavailable. From now until Gameweek 21, FPL managers only have between five to six free transfers, so we need to tread carefully.
If you have more than three players going to either AFCON or the Asian Cup, I wouldn’t look to be bringing in any more. Not only will you have to start transferring these players out soon, but other issues are bound to arise in your team during this period that require the use of those transfers. We have already seen highly owned players such as Erling Haaland and Mbeumo injured in the past few weeks.
This is a team-specific issue, so FPL managers should count how many of their players could be affected and plan accordingly.
What about wildcards and blank Gameweek 18?
The deadline to play your first wildcard is December 30, before Gameweek 20. It’s also worth noting that we have a blank in Gameweek 18 for Manchester City and Brentford, which will have to be factored into your decisions.
Who are the winners in this situation?
Manchester City and Newcastle are the only teams who have no players participating in AFCON and the Asian Cup, so will have an advantage. Both have numerous FPL assets, so you might want to think twice if you have plans to offload any of them.
Aston Villa and Chelsea will only lose one player each and will largely be unaffected. Bertrand Traore has only played one minute of Premier League football for Villa, and for Chelsea, you would think Christopher Nkunku (£7.3m) will be up to speed by Gameweek 21 and therefore deputise for Jackson.
Arsenal don’t have any big omissions either, as both Tomiyasu and Partey are both injured and Elneny hasn’t started a single game this season. The likes of Bukayo Saka (£8.9m), William Saliba (£5.5m), and Gabriel (£4.9m) are great players to invest in right now given their club’s favourable long-term fixtures.
Who are the losers?
Liverpool and Spurs will lose their best assets. Salah and Son should be kept as long as possible before they head off for international duty given their fixtures until Gameweek 20. Both Egypt and South Korea are expected to make it past the group stages at least.
Brentford will lose their two best forwards in Mbeumo and Wissa, but they will welcome back Ivan Toney (£7.9m) bang on time in Gameweek 21 as his ban comes to an end. Thomas Frank said after the Brighton game that Mbeumo will be out for ”weeks”, so at the moment it does look like he will be playing for Cameroon at AFCON.
West Ham will lose two first-team players in Aguerd and Kudus, which will weaken them at both ends of the pitch.
Luton, Brighton and Wolves will also be without some of their best players.
Nottingham Forest will be the hardest hit with seven players in total, but Awnoyi is injured and isn’t expected back until late February anyway.
And the FPL conclusions?
It’s not only the individual players we should monitor, but also those teams that are losing numerous players and will be weakened, which could affect attacking and defensive output.
Keeping an eye on the tournaments will be important as we’ll know when key players will be returning.
When we get rid of premium assets such as Son and Salah, it’s wise to have a plan to get them back in once they return. But they aren’t cheap, so it’s likely you will need two transfers to get them back, especially if you spread the extra money around your squad.
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(Top photo: Son Heung-min playing for South Korea last month; by Chung Sung-Jun via Getty Images)
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December 14, 2023 at 03:09PM
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Fantasy Premier League: How best to handle AFCON and Asian Cup absences - The Athletic
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