Cameroon midfielder Alex Song is poised to inform West Ham United that he will play in the Africa Cup of Nations next month.
Song's
participation will take the number of West Ham players involved in the
tournament to three and could put a serious dent in the club's hopes of
sustaining their impressive start to the season.
The
midfielder had questioned whether the Africa Cup of Nations should go
ahead after the outbreak of the Ebola virus and delayed a decision on
his playing for Cameroon.
Morocco
refused to host the event because of concerns over Ebola, with
thetournament being switched to Equatorial Guinea. West Ham have been
waiting to hear from Song over whether or not he will travel to Guinea,
but the 27-year-old player is now believed to be close to confirming his
plans.
Song
has been a revelation at Upton Park since moving on loan from Barcelona
in the summer and he will be badly missed by Sam Allardyce, the West
Ham manager.
The
Senegal duo Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyaté are also due to play in
the tournament, which runs from January 17 to February 8.
Fifa
rules state that countries can call up their players 14 days before
their first game, which means the trio could be away for five of West
Ham's games from the FA Cup tie against Everton on Jan 6.
The
Hammers could request special dispensation from the federations to keep
Song, Sakho and Kouyate for the Everton match and Swansea City game on
Jan 10, with Senegal due to play their first Africa Cup game on Jan 19
and Cameroon starting their campaign a day later.
West
Ham then face Hull City, Liverpool and Manchester United over the
period of time that three of their best players could be missing.
West
Ham are also concerned about the condition in which their players will
come back from Guinea, after Sakho returned from Senegal duty last month
with a back and neck injury.
Allardyce
will ideally want all his players available for the Feb 11 trip to
Southampton, which could be a pivotal game in the shake-up for Champions
League qualification.
The
Saints are fifth, two points behind West Ham. Newcastle are the only
other Premier League club who will have three players going to the
Africa Cup of Nations. Of West Ham's rivals for a top-four place,
Southampton will lose Emmanuel Mayuka and Sadio Mané and Tottenham
Hotspur will be without Nabil Bentaleb. Arsenal do not lose anybody.
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