A number of players are leaving their Premier League clubs to play for their national teams at the Africa Cup of Nations.
This means that Fantasy Premier League managers will have to undertake a reshuffle. With the likes of Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa not having qualified for the finals, the Premier League has not been hit as badly as in previous years, but managers will still need to make changes.
The likes of Gervinho (8.9 million), Didier Drogba (10.1), Kolo Toure (6.0), Yaya Toure (7.6) and Demba Ba (7.5) figure in a lot of fantasy teams.
Signing Thierry Henry (7.5) as a direct replacement for Gervinho may be a good ploy. The Frenchman, back on loan at Arsenal for two months, showed against Leeds on Monday that he still has the touch and movement. He is a better alternative for Arsene Wenger than the woefully out of form Andrey Arshavin and could do some damage.
Could this finally be Fernando Torres' (10) time to shine in a Chelsea shirt? Drogba's presence at the club hinders Torres because the pair do not play well together and Drogba is often preferred, meaning the Spaniard is relegated to the bench. This cannot be as good as it gets at Chelsea for a player of Torres' class, and now may just be the moment for him to start justifying that huge transfer fee.
Man City's defence has been leaking goals of late, meaning replacing Kolo Toure with a defender from another club may be wise. Tottenham have been keeping several clean sheets recently, and the attacking Kyle Walker costs the same as Toure and is one of the highest points scoring defenders this season.
Kolo's brother Yaya has been one of Cty's best players this season, but at just 5.9 Newcastle's Yohan Cabaye is better value and in fine form at present.
Those replacing Ba have a more difficult task on their hands. At 7.5 the Newcastle player has been by far the best value striker in the game this season. It may be worth looking at Blackburn's Yakubu (6.1) or Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge (7.4) as short-term replacements.
African Cup of Nations participants
Gervinho (Arsenal)
Marouane Chamakh (Arsenal)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
Salomon Kalou (Chelsea)
Bertrand Traore (Chelsea)
Kolo Toure (Man City)
Yaya Toure (Man City)
Demba Ba (Newcastle)
Cheick Tiote (Newcastle)
Armand Traore (QPR)
Adel Taarabt (QPR)
Mohamed Diame (Wigan)
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Stu Forster / Getty Images
Comments
Super stars from Africa are raising the level of League and Cup Football across the Planet. Wishing the African footballers all the very best as they display their class in front of their adoring fans, family members and the millions of youngsters viewing the prestigious African Cup of Nations.