Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal in AFCON boost after sudden late change

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Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all been handed an unexpected boost after one Aston Villa star received a late call-up for the Africa Cup of Nations .

The tournament kicks off this weekend in Morocco, with the host nation facing Comoros on Sunday evening. The competition will then run until mid-January, with the final set to be staged at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on January 18.

Fortunately for both London clubs, the tournament will not impact their squad availability, with no players set to be involved. It is a different story for United, however, who will have to navigate the next month without some big names.

The Red Devils will miss Bryan Mbeumo , Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui, who are representing Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Morocco respectively. All three of those nations, particularly Morocco, are likely to reach the latter stages of the competition.

All three of Villa's upcoming fixtures come against top-six opposition, starting with the visit of United this Sunday. Then, it is a trip to Stamford Bridge after Christmas , followed by another visit to London to take on Arsenal before the New Year .

In the build-up to those games, the Ivorian Football Federation has confirmed that Villa’s Evann Guessand has been called up to represent his nation at AFCON following an injury to Sebastien Haller.

The ex- West Ham forward has withdrawn as a result of an injury sustained earlier this month, while the Villa winger has been called up in his place after initially being named as one of two reserve players.

Participating nations can name up to two reserve players who can be called upon before the tournament kicks off in light of any last-minute injury concerns.

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Guessand joined Villa from French side Nice back in the summer for a fee in the region of £30million.

The right winger has scored two goals in his 18 appearances across all competitions so far. Both came in Europa League matches, the first against Go Ahead Eagles and the second during their recent trip to face Basel.

Despite Guessand's struggles in front of goal in the Premier League , Unai Emery's side are still enjoying a strong run of form. They have won their last nine games in all competitions, with their most recent defeat coming against Liverpool at Anfield at the start of November.

Villa sit third in the league standings, behind Manchester City in second and current leaders Arsenal. Both Chelsea and United are not too far behind, on 28 and 26 points respectively.

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