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With AFCON and the Asian Cup beginning in January, Episode 13 of High Press takes a look at the least and most affected teams.
Host Alison Bender is joined by Martin Lipton, Paul McCarthy and Vaishali Bhardwaj to discuss how the tournaments will impact the Premier League before debating the best African and Asian players in the Premier League era.
Least affected teams
Starting off with a look at the least affected teams (Newcastle and Manchester City are not losing any players to international duty), Lipton says, “Managers, when they are recruiting players, they must be aware of the likelihood of losing them.
“Clearly, you look at Guardiola’s recruitment throughout his career as a manager. He’s had the occasional African player, but he’s aware of the repercussions.”
While it clearly works in City’s favour to an extent, Lipton also points out how few Premier League matches there are in January and February compared to December.
Nottingham Forest losing six players due to AFCON
Bender brings up Nottingham Forest, who are losing as many as six players due to AFCON and the Asian Cup.
Bhardwaj responds, “You make a really good point. The relegation battle, it is so tight down there at the moment, and if you’re Nuno, you’ve come in, you’ve won two games… and now you’re going to lose six players.”
Brentford are also considerably impacted, with four players missing during this period. Bhardwaj cites the significance of the Bees facing Forest during this spell, and describes the match as a ‘really interesting watch’ with Ivan Toney returning.
The conversation turns to Mohamed Salah, who is the biggest Premier League name competing in this year’s AFCON. Bhardwaj says Salah will ‘obviously be a massive miss’, but Bender was relatively positive following the performances of Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota in the FA Cup.
Salah & Golden Boot race
Salah is joint-top in the Golden Boot race at the time of recording, though McCarthy is keen to point out he offers far more than that to Liverpool.
“Five or six seasons ago, there was the accusation, and quite rightly, that Salah was too selfish, taking on shots when he could have played in Sadio Mane…
“But you look now, he’s developed his game, and he’s as much a creator as a scorer now, which you couldn’t have said four or five seasons ago.”
McCarthy also says that he thinks the absence of Salah will be ‘huge’ for Liverpool.
Bhardwaj draws a comparison with Spurs losing Heung-min Son, who is competing in the Asian Cup for South Korea. Tottenham are also without Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma, with Lipton describing Sarr as a ‘really important player’ for Ange Postecoglou.
Everton
Turning to Everton, McCarthy is confident they will be okay, citing the ‘depth of quality’ and a ‘manager who knows how to keep a smaller, underfunded team in the Premier League’.
With Nayef Aguerd and Mohammed Kudus heading to AFCON, Bhardwaj is concerned about West Ham’s depth in central defence. Other injuries are really stretching David Moyes’ squad, too.
McCarthy adds, “As a West Ham fan, Kudus is the one player in the last five years who has really got me out of my seat.”
With the attention switching to Arsenal’s title challenge, McCarthy says “Arteta has much greater problems than players missing for tournaments.”
Like with West Ham, Bhardwaj is wary of Arsenal’s defensive depth with Takehiro Tomiyasu heading off to the Asian Cup.
The panel are in agreement that Nottingham Forest are most impacted by these international tournaments due to the volume of players missing.
Best African player to play in the Premier League
Bender names Didier Drogba as the greatest African player in Premier League history, while McCarthy picks Yaya Toure as the ‘first A-lister Manchester City got through’. Bhardwaj points to Drogba’s legacy. Lipton looks elsewhere, and says ‘no one comes close to Salah’.
Great Premier League Asian player
Following on from Lipton’s praise of Salah, Bhardwaj says “He has broken so many stereotypes. He’s a role model off the pitch, a lot of people look up to him.”
Bender picks Ji-Sung Park as the greatest Asian player. McCarthy says. “Sonny at Spurs is head and shoulders above anybody else.”
Bhardwaj praises everything about Son, including his lengthy autograph sessions. Lipton mentions that Australians like Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill are included in this discussion, but he’s going with Son.
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