Chelsea
have been handed a boost amid their busy fixture list with the news Hakim
Ziyech will be available in January and February after being left out of
Morocco's squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Chelsea are set to play at least six fixtures in January, including Premier
League games against fellow title contenders Liverpool and Manchester City
and London rivals Tottenham.
Thomas Tuchel's side also face a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final against
Spurs, while they will compete in the Club World Cup in February.
But Ziyech is now set to be available for all of those fixtures due to a
reported falling out with Vahid Halilhodzic, the Morocco head coach.
Ziyech has not played for his country since June and missed all six of their
World Cup qualifiers this season.
Noussair Mazraoui, Ziyech's former Ajax team-mate, is also absent from
Morocco's squad amid another rumoured disagreement with Halilhodzic.
With Ziyech absent, Wolves' Romain Saiss and Watford duo Adam Masina and
Imran Louza will be the Premier League representatives in the Morocco side.
Queens Park Rangers' Ilias Chair is also in the squad, as is Paris
Saint-Germain right-back Achraf Hakimi.
The Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place in Cameroon between
January 9 and February 6, with all 52 matches to be shown live on Sky
Sports.
Morocco are in Group G, along with Ghana, Comoros and Gabon.
AFCON will go ahead as planned, says CAF
president
The rearranged Africa Cup of Nations will go ahead as scheduled next month
in Cameroon, says Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice
Motsepe.
A meeting was held between Motsepe and Cameroon president Paul Biya amid
concerns over the threat of coronavirus outbreaks due to the Omicron
variant.
Africa's football showpiece, usually held every two years, was scheduled to
be played last summer but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"I'm going to be here on January 7 and I'm coming to watch football,"
Motsepe said on Tuesday.
"I'm coming to watch on January 9 (the opening match between) Cameroon
against Burkina Faso. I'll also be around to see when the trophy is handed
over."
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