Ziyech: Chelsea handed boost after Morocco leave midfielder out of AFCON squad

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."

PL to meet managers, captains to discuss player welfare, fixture pile-up

The Premier League is to hold two meetings on Thursday afternoon to discuss player welfare and fixture congestion.

One meeting will take place at 4pm with all Premier League managers and the other one is with captains and senior players.

Managers and players are concerned about the number of games they have to play in quick succession during the Christmas holiday period because of the demands it is putting on squads which have been reduced in size as a result of Covid-19.

They feel they are being put in an impossible position by being asked to play three games between Boxing Day and January 2. Premier League rules say teams have to fulfil fixtures if they have 14 fit players.

Liverpool were one of the clubs who spoke in favour of postponing one round of fixtures at the Premier League shareholders' meeting on Monday but their call was not backed by the majority of clubs.

Players are unhappy that they have not been consulted more during the latest spike in Covid cases. They feel they should have more of a say about the demands which are being placed on them going forward.

Many managers also want the Premier League to allow them to make five substitutions during games. IFAB gave leagues the option of allowing five substitutes but Premier League clubs decided to stick with three.