With the Africa Cup of Nations now imminent, let’s look at how Arsenal and their upcoming opponents will be impacted by international call-ups.
The first game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations takes place this weekend, with Morocco facing Comoros on Sunday, December 21st, but December 15th is the date FIFA have set for players to be released from club duties to link up with their national teams.
That means from now until the end of the group stage on December 31st, any players called up for one of the teams involved at AFCON won’t be able to feature in club games. Possibly even longer if their teams progress through the tournament.
The good news for Arsenal is that they don’t have any call-ups this time, but it’s a different story with many of their upcoming opponents. Let’s run through them one by one.
December 20th – PL – Everton (A)
Arsenal will travel away to face an Everton side on Saturday without Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, both of whom have been called up by Senegal.
Ndiaye has started every Premier League fixture for Everton this season, and Gueye has only missed the three for which he was suspended. So those are significant losses for this weekend’s hosts.
December 23rd – League Cup – Crystal Palace (H)
Ismaila Sarr will be unavailable for Crystal Palace for the League Cup quarter-finals, having been called up by Senegal. Nigeria didn’t called up Christantus Uche, so he remains available.
Sarr has been a regular starter for Palace this season, and only Jean-Philippe Mateta (with nine) has scored more than his eight goals.
December 27th – PL – Brighton & Hove Albion (H)
For the third game in a row, Arsenal will face a team without one of their key players, with Carlos Baleba having been called up by Cameroon. Baleba has started 14 of 16 Premier League fixtures this season.
December 30th – PL – Aston Villa (H)
Arsenal will need to try and take revenge on Aston Villa against a full-strength squad, because none of their players have been called up yet. However, Evann Guessand is on Ivory Coast’s standby list in case of any withdrawals.
January 3rd – PL – AFC Bournemouth (A)
Bournemouth won’t be without anyone either. Antoine Semenyo is a Ghana regular, but Ghana didn’t qualify, and Morocco didn’t call up Amine Adli.
January 8th – PL – Liverpool (H)
Mohamed Salah has been the man making headlines for Liverpool recently, and it’s unclear whether or not he’ll miss this game against Arsenal. He’s been called up by Egypt, but whether that rules him out of the Arsenal clash depends on whether or not they make it to the quarter-finals.
A group stage exit would definitely have Salah back in time, a round-of-16 exit might. Whether Salah is actually playing for Liverpool upon his return is another matter.
January 11th – FA Cup – Portsmouth (A)
Portsmouth don’t have any players involved at AFCON.
January 17th – PL – Nottingham Forest (A)
Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare have both been called up by the Ivory Coast, so if they make it to the semi-finals, then they’ll miss the Arsenal game to play in either the final or the third-place play-off.
Boly hasn’t been starting for Forest anyway, but Sangare would be a miss.
January 20th – CL – Inter Milan (A)
By this point, AFCON will be over. Given Inter Milan haven’t received any call-ups, there’s no possibility that one of their players might miss the Arsenal game for the final on January 18th.
January 25th – PL – Manchester United (H)
Noussair Mazaoui, Amad Diallo, and Bryan Mbeumo have all been called up for AFCON, so this might be their first match back in action for their club if any of their teams make it to the final/third-place play-off. But none of the three should miss the Arsenal game.