Plan of AC(ti)ON?

The lowdown on what ACON means for the Premier League, and for Newcastle in particular.

Starting (with Cameroon v Burkina Faso on Sunday) and ending (with the final on the 6th February) at the Paul Biya stadium in Cameroon, the Africa Cup of Nations remains the one that England aren't involved in that people still care about for selfish Premier-League reasons. Outside of the European Championship, there are continental, international competitions all over the world and I'm equally disinterested in all of them... but with ACON, because of its scheduling, one can't help but wonder how it's going to affect our Premier League efforts, particularly when we're in the midst of a relegation battle.

So... I thought I'd look into who's missing, and who's going to be affected the most! First, here's a list of the Premier League teams (alphabetically) and who, if anyone, will be missing during the African competition.

Arsenal - Omar Rekik (Tunisia)

- Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)

- Mohamed Elneny (Egypt)

- Thomas Partey (Ghana)

- Nicolas Pepe (Cote d'Ivoire)

Aston Villa - Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

- Trezeguet (Egypt)

Brentford - Frank Onyeka (Nigeria)

Brighton - Ulrick Ella (Gabon)

Burnley - Maxwel Cornet (Cote d'Ivoire)

Chelsea - Edouard Mendy (Senegal)

C. Palace - Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal)

- Jordan Ayew (Ghana)

- Wilfried Zaha (Cote d'Ivoire)

Everton - Alex Iwobi (Nigeria)

Leicester - Nampalys Mendy (Senegal)

- Daniel Amartey (Ghana)

- Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria)

- Ihenacho (Nigeria)

Liverpool - Sadio Mane (Senegal)

- Naby Keita (Guinea)

- Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Man City - Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)

Man Utd - Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)

- Eric Bailly (Cote d'Ivoire)

Southampton - Moussa Djenepo (Mali)

Watford - Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)

- Adam Masina (Morocco)

- Imran Louza (Morocco)

- William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria)

West Ham - Said Benrahma (Algeria)

Wolves - Willy Boly (Cote d'Ivoire)

- Romain Saiss (Morocco)

Things look like they might be tricky for Watford who can consider themselves very fortunate to have kept Emmanuel Dennis out of the Nigeria squad, on a paperwork technicality! Whether he'll be on form, or whether he'll be annoyed he didn't get to participate in the tournament, remains to be seen. Certainly fortunate are Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle and Spurs, who don't lose ANY players.

So... this begs the question "Who do we support to give Newcastle the best chance of staying up?" and the best way to do that is to keep our closest rivals' players in Africa for as long as possible.

So, let's have a look at who that might be... First of all, we can eliminate all the countries who aren't taking ANYONE from the Premier League. That's hosts Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gambia, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Sudan, Comoros, and Sierra Leone. This means we're choosing from (in alphabetical order):

ALGERIA BURKINA FASO COTE D'IVOIRE EGYPT GABON GHANA

GUINEA MALI MOROCCO NIGERIA SENEGAL TUNISIA

Only 12 of the 24 will directly affect the Premier League, so now we need to work out which of those affect the teams we care about.

ALGERIA

Riyad Mahrez of Man City and Said Benrahma of West Ham are the Algerian players who'll be taking a leave of absence from their club duties and, for Newcastle, that doesn't really make a lot of difference seeing as they're nowhere near us!

West Ham have Norwich next but Said wouldn't be back by then anyway... then it's Leeds and Man Utd before facing Watford after the Africans have all returned. Man City have Southampton away later in the month but, let's be honest, we're not expecting them to struggle at the Dell. So, if anything, we want Algeria out soon to get City and West Ham back to full strength for their games against our relegation rivals but, realistically, Algeria's fate is pretty inconsequential to our own.

BURKINA FASO

Aston Villa's Bertrand Traore is the only Burkinabé (yes, I Googled the demonym for Burkina Faso) in the Premier League. Villa are 11 points ahead of us (just about catchable if we have an amazing run and they plummet) but, the thing is, they're playing Everton while ACON is on, and then Leeds just after everyone gets back.

We could certainly do with one of their better players being available for those games, so I'd say we want Burkina Faso to go out at the group stage, which finishes on the 20th but with Burkina Faso's last game on the 17th. Everton v Villa is on the 22nd. Burkina Faso are 2nd favourites to win their group but 40/1 to win the whole thing so certainly not expected to light the competition up. Let's get them home soon, please!

COTE D'IVOIRE

... or the Ivory Coast in English, have quite a hand in the Premier League and are fourth-favourites to win the competition at 8/1. Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal), Maxwel Cornet (Burnley), Wilfried Zaha (C. Palace), Eric Bailly (Man Utd) and Willy Boly (Wolves) will all be missing until, according to the bookies, probably the semi-finals.

For me, Burnley are on equal points with us, with two games in hand, and Cornet is one of their better players... so we could certainly do worse than have the Ivorians go all the way. They are playing Watford, though... so perhaps it'd be better if they won that, particularly if we're expecting Burnley to remain in the relegation zone anyway. I can't see Palace falling far enough to matter to us, but without their best player... who knows? They could even be another that we have a chance of catching towards the end of the season.

EGYPT

England's group-mates at the World Cup in 1990 have never quite made it on the world stage, but with Liverpool's Mo Salah they've certainly gained plenty of attention over the last decade or so. Arsenal's Mohamed Elneny and Villa's Trezeguet will also travel to Cameroon.

Liverpool have Brentford and Crystal Palace to contend with, while Arsenal play Spurs and Burnley... again, not games we'd expect them to struggle in but why not have them at full strength? Not only that, but if Salah comes back soon we might stand a better chance of signing Divock Origi. At 7/1 and third-favourites, Egypt are expected to be in the competition a while but fingers crossed they get a shock and come home early!

GABON

Well... this all depends on whether we sign Aubameyang in the next few days, I guess! While he's an Arsenal player (vs Spurs/Burnley) we could do with him coming home anyway though, so we're probably not going to support Gabon, right?

Brighton is the only other team affected by Gabon's progress, so not really that big a deal... but, they're in a group with Morocco and Ghana so, really, it depends how soon we want THEM to come home. I'd certainly rather Gabon stayed in the competition than Ghana who, as you're about to see, will take a few more important players from some of the higher up teams. I'm hoping it'll be Morocco and Gabon that progress from the group, but for Gabon to fall at the next hurdle.

GHANA

Ghana's call-ups have drawn from Arsenal, Crystal Palace, and Leicester - quite important players for all three sides as well. Palace's games don't really affect us much but Leicester have got Burnley and Everton so it'd be very handy for Daniel Amartey to be available for those games. Ghana are 12/1 so not really among the proper favourites... let's hope they're put out of their misery early so their players can vicariously help us stay up!

They share a group with Morocco and Gabon who certainly have their share of decent players... I think they'll probably progress past the group stage but it's not set in stone at this point.

GUINEA

NB folks... there's a Guinea-Bissau AND an Equatorial Guinea, both in the competition, but it's just plain Guinea who draw from the Premier League talent pool, with Naby Keita of Liverpool. I think we've already established that we want Liverpool players back, on balance, so this is a simple one, really.

They're at 33/1 so might get past the group stage (against Senegal, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, but will probably come home relatively quickly, and that's just fine with us!

MALI

Another side with only one Premier League player, which is Moussa Djenepo of Southampton, who I believe is the only player to have been sent off against Newcastle after a VAR decision, to date. He's pretty important for Southampton, a team who are just about in touching distance if we have a great second half of the season, so he can stay put in Cameroon for as long as he likes!

Mali are in with Tunisia, Mauritania, and Gambia... probably the easiest group. They're expected to make it out but are long shots at 25/1 to win the whole thing... fingers crossed they go on a decent run, though! They're kindred spirits of Newcastle's, too, with recent troubles between their own FA and FIFA mirroring our issues with the Premier League.

MOROCCO

One Premier League club whose name hasn't come up yet is Watford - arguably the most important club to watch out for as far as Newcastle are concerned. Well... they were almost without five - four, as it turns out - and Morocco accounts for Adam Masina and Imran Louza being missing.

That's a big deal to us and, along with them being slight underdogs among the real forces in this competition (at 9/1), make them an ideal candidate for my support so I'm gonna come right out and say it... Morocco are the team I'm going to support throughout the competition. They're favourites to win their group against Ghana, Gabon and Comoros. No takesies-backsies... Morocco all the way.

NIGERIA

Oh... damn. Don't panic Toon fans, Shola Ameobi's going nowhere. That said, Nigeria are taking a few from our league, namely Onyeka from Brentford, Iwobi from Everton, Ndidi and Ihenacho from Leicester, and Troost-Ekong from Watford. So... yeah... I've changed my mind. The Nigerian squad has taken a serious amount of talent from the Premier League in general and that can only be a good thing for a team that has no absentees.

Nigeria are 9/1 and have a tough groupmate in Egypt, but should have no problem with Guinea-Bissau and Sudan as their other opponents, and should progress in the competition. Let's hope Shola's boys do the business!

SENEGAL

Clearly, I need to stop deciding before I've read all the options. How could I forget Senegal, home of arguably the last truly excellent strike partnership Newcastle had? Ismaila Sarr will be missing for Watford, plus Edouard Mendy from Chelsea, Kouyate from Crystal Palace, Nampalys Mendy from Leicester, and Sadio Mane from Liverpool. Thing is... it's only really Sarr that benefits us there - is it worth wanting Senegal to progress so as not to hurt the teams that are out of our reach, and will be up against those that are?

Well... it would be the case moreso if Emmanuel Dennis had been able to travel with Nigeria and thus left Watford somewhat impotent in attack. Still, even without him, Senegal are 4/1 favourites to win the competition so they'll probably be out there a while. A Senegal vs Morocco final would really hurt Watford. With Nigeria in the 3rd place playoff.

TUNISIA

Last but not least are Tunisia who are taking Rekik from Arsenal and Mejbri from Man Utd. Not much to write home about really, but at 14/1 they're a strong side who could cause a few upsets in the competition. Probably best if they're done sooner rather than later but they'll almost certainly get through their group against Gambia, Mauritania and Mali.

Man Utd are up against Villa, Brentford, and then Burnley just after the final... but Mejbri has only made one appearance for them anyway so not really worth considering.

SO... WHO TO SUPPORT?

Well, to hit the most relevant teams around us, it's Nigeria to win... but to hit Watford hardest, we want a Morocco v Senegal or Morocco v Nigeria final. As such, any of those three would be a good shout but I think I'm gonna have to go with Nigeria!

As much as anything else, they take two players away from Leicester for quite some time, as well as an important defender for Watford. He and Masina of Morocco have been instrumental in keeping Watford's goal difference respectable, so a Nigeria v Morocco final is what I'm hoping for.

The final takes place on 6th February at 7pm; if you'd like to follow Nigeria's progress throughout the competition, they're in Group D and are starting against Egypt on the 11th January at 4pm GMT. According to SofaScore, the game will be live on Sky Sports.

If you'd rather follow Morocco, that's Group C and their first game vs Ghana is also on Sky, at 4pm on 10th January... for Senegal you want Group B. Their opener against Zimbabwe doesn't appear to be on Sky.

Of course, you can follow whoever you want, but there's my thoughts. Here's all the fixture information for the group stages, for anyone that plans to follow the competition.

GO NIGERIA! FOR SHOLA! FOR SAMMY! FOR OBAFEMI! FOR... CELESTINE?! ANYONE?