Crystal Palace and Watford have each been dealt a significant player blow ahead of their return to action as Senegal have progressed to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
It means that rather than heading back to England and gearing up for club duty, Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyate and Watford’s Ismaila Sarr will be staying put in Cameroon.
Had Senegal lost their semi-final against Burkina Faso on Wednesday, it still would have been a big ask for either player to make it back for club duty at the weekend as they would have had to have been excused from Saturday’s third-place playoff.
Blows for Crystal Palace and Watford as Senegal march on
However, now both players will definitely miss out for the respective sides as the Eagles take on Hartlepool in the FA Cup and the Hornets travel to Burnley in the Premier League.
Given that the AFCON final, in which The Lions of Teranga will face either Cameroon or Egypt, is set to take place on Sunday evening thousands of miles away from London, both players are now major doubts to feature for their respective clubs in the following round of fixtures, too.
With Watford taking on West Ham on Tuesday night just 48 hours after the AFCON final, Roy Hodgson faces the prospect of being without Sarr once again.
Kouyate has an extra day to get back to the UK, with Palace taking on Norwich on Wednesday night, but his participation in that fixture is still very much in doubt.
Both players have been important for their respective clubs so far this season, with Kouyate making 15 Premier League starts for the Eagles and Sarr scoring five goals for the Hornets before missing a significant chunk of action through injury.
Kouyate played 65 minutes of Senegal’s 3-1 semi-final win over Burkina Faso, while Sarr was introduced off the bench and played the final 25 minutes.
The former received a SofaScore match rating of 6.8 and the latter a marginally better 7.2 after notching an assist.
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