The African Effect.

This years African Nations Cup could have the biggest impact yet, with so many African players now plying their trade in the Premiership, many more teams than before rely on their expertise.

Here is a table from the BBC Sport Website that shows the impact this will have on each club.

As can be seen by this table, Portsmouth could be dead and buried by the time the end of Jan arrives. Chelsea could be bang in trouble too if they continue this dodgy patch they are going through. The problem Chelsea have also is that the players they are looking to lose for the tournament are key players in Essien, Drogba, Kalou and Mikel. Granted Essien is out injured  - but he will be out until the end of Jan/start of Feb anyway. As United won't lose anyone (and their injury list may have diminished by then) they will be looking to eclipse Chelsea during this time. Chelsea's goal tally will surely slow down during this time so unless the rest of the team pull their weight - Drogba will certainly be missed.

Arsenal only lose 2 players this year which is a bonus on previous years, however one of them is Alex Song who has become the king pin in the middle of the midfield allowing Fabregas and company to thrive. Losing him will be a great loss especially as he has been so instrumental so far.

Manchester City lose big names in both Attack and Defense - where Arsenal lost it last year.. Adebayor and Toure will be a huge loss in their bid for the top 4.

The main talking point though is Portsmouth - losing SIX players during this time. Their squad isnt huge as it is anyway let alone with 6 men down. If you check out the full list you will see that 3 of them are regular first teamers and the others feature regularly from the bench. It could well be all over sooner rather than later for Pompey

Here's the full list...

Number of players at the African Cup of Nations
Six: Portsmouth - Kevin-Prince Boateng, Nadir Belhadj, Hassan Yebda, John Utaka, Nwankwo Kanu, Aruna Dindane
Four: Chelsea - Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, John Obi Mikel
Three: Man City - Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kelvin Etuhu; Hull City - Kamel Ghilas, Daniel Cousin, Seyi Olofinjana
Two: Arsenal - Alex Song, Emmanuel Eboue; Tottenham - Sebastien Bassong, Benoit Assou-Ekotto; Everton - Joseph Yobo, Ayegbeni Yakubu; Fulham - John Pantsil, Dickson Etuhu
One: Aston Villa - Moustapha Salifou; Sunderland - John Mensah; Stoke - Mamady Sidibe; Bolton - Danny Shittu; Burnley - Andre Bikey; Wigan - Richard Kingson; Wolves - George Elokobi
None: Man Utd, Liverpool, West Ham, Birmingham, Blackburn