African absence could upset City title bid

By Jonathan Wilson Jan 19, 2012, 8:15 GMT

London - These are anxious times for Manchester City. Although they still top the Premier League by three points after a 1-0 win at Wigan Monday, they are not the smooth-flowing machine of the early part of the season.

Four defeats in eight games before the Wigan match suggested they may be suffering just the sort of stutter many predicted for them.

Even worse, they have lost arguably their best player in the early part of the season to the African Cup of Nations.

Yaya Toure has been immense, a powerful presence in the centre of midfield who dominates like no central midfielder in the Premier League since Patrick Vieira and has weighed in with six goals.

'I have tried to find another Yaya in my squad but there isn't another Yaya,' said Coty manager Mancini.

'He is a very important player. For this reason January is a big month.

'If we can stay on the top of the table after January then I think we have a very good chance to win the league.'

Toure's brother Kolo is also part of the Ivory Coast squad, denying City his presence as cover in central defence, where the four-game suspension of Vincent Kompany has left a big hole.

Generally speaking, with Cameroon and Nigeria failing to qualify for the Cup of Nations, the Premier League has been less effected than usual by the tournament.

Arsenal have lost the winger Gervinho and the centre-forward Marouane Chamakh, which is one of the reasons Thierry Henry has been brought in on loan from New York Red Bulls.

Chamakh's recent form has been so poor he's no great loss, but Gervinho's invention from wide will be missed. Manager Arsene Wenger has even suggested that Henry could be used as a winger to cover.

Newcastle United are the other team to suffer badly, with centre-forward Demba Ba, who has scored 15 goals in 17 league starts this season, and midfielder Cheik Tiote both travelling to Equatorial Guinea to be part of the Senegalese and Ivorian squads respectively.

'Losing two players to the African Cup of Nations is too many for us because I want them here,' Pardew said.

'It's a challenge for the squad to lose two big players. Our first hurdle (Blackburn), we got over it, but we've got four or five more now.'

Chelsea will be without forwards Didier Drogba and Saloman Kalou.

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